Alternate Identity
by ShadowPillow
Summary: The world across the Gate is not, in fact, WWI Germany. The world across the Gate is 1996 in the Wizarding World, and a war is brewing. When Dante transports Ed to the other side of the Gate, Ed accidentally kills the body he inhabits, the Edward of that world. Later, when he returns, the other Alphonse finds Ed and thinks he is his brother, who has been missing for over a week.
1. Alternate Identity

Welcome to another Harry Potter Fullmetal Alchemist crossover (obviously, I own neither of these). The strange thing about this one is that it's actually done, and not absolutely terrible. Well, the second part is up to you. _I _don't think it's terrible. It has it's spots, but I'm proud of it. So. Since you're here already, might as well give a read, right? And enjoy, since it's obviously going to become your favorite story, even outside the world of fanfictions. (I'm joking, don't worry. I'm not that arrogant...)

The story starts near the end of the 2003 anime. If you haven't watched it, don't read it. Most of what happens in the first two chapters follow the anime (excepting the whole "Alternate universe actually isn't WWI Germany and is instead Harry Potterverse"), and I'd hate to spoil it for you. (Pretending that I've never done that before.) Well, assuming this story passes all of the checks and I haven't bored you already with my pre-story speech... Enjoy!**  
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><p><em><strong>Alternate Identity<strong>_

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><p>I woke up in a small, dark room filled with snoring boys. It was dark; I could only barely make out the shapes tucked beneath heavy blankets. There was a drowsy, peaceful feel pervading the entire room, and I could feel my own lids drooping. My head too felt thick, sluggish, and I lifted my arm to wipe away the sleepiness.<p>

Where was I? I didn't remember _–_

But all other thought ceased at the strangeness of sensation in my right hand. I felt the warm skin of my cheek, the soft brush of eyelashes against my hand. No, that couldn't be right. This was my _right _hand; cool, cold metal, not this soft skin I was feeling _–__  
><em>

I jerked it away from my face, held it in front of me in the dim light. For a moment, I could only stare.

It was flesh and bone. Human. Not automail.

What had happened? Why did I have my arm back? And now that I saw, _knew_, I could also feel my left leg. What had happened, that I got both my arm and leg back?

_Where was Al?_

I stood up from the bed, dragging disheveled sheets with me. My now-real leg stumbled slightly at feeling the weight, but it didn't matter. Where was Al? Was he hurt? Was he... human? The last thing I remembered was the ballroom, fighting against Dante. Hadn't Al been in danger? The homunculi had kidnapped him to get to the Philosopher's Stone...

My frantically searching eyes suddenly rested on a figure in the bed next to the one I had been in. Somehow, the shape seemed comfortingly familiar. If I had my arm and leg back...

I told myself it couldn't be true, even as my feet led me over there. It couldn't be Al, human, because it was just too good to be true _–_

I lifted the cover back and my breath caught. I couldn't move. I couldn't believe. For I had hoped, but...

What had happened, to reward me with this sight after so long? What had I ever done to deserve this, to have both my arm and leg back, to see Al's _human _sleeping form rest so peacefully?

"Al..." My hand stretched forward to him. "Al!" He turned around, mumbling something, and I gasped when I saw his face. Exactly the same as Al's would have been if he had aged all those years... I smiled when he moved again, tugging his blankets closer. What could I have done to deserve this?

I hoped to never wake up from this dream, this dream that was too good to be true. That we had finally achieved our goal after so long...

But then he opened his eyes, and I took a step back. No... Al had warm, hazel eyes. Not this gentle blue.

Had I... Had I somehow been mistaken? Doubts flooded back to me. It hadn't made sense anyway. How could this had happened? What about Dante? Rose? How was it even possible?

And yet, I could feel my missing right arm and left leg as if they had never been stolen from me. There was no mistaking that, the oddness of actually having feeling in those limbs.

"Ed?" Even his voice sounded different. Deeper. Like Al had already grown up and become an adult.

"Al?" I whispered, my voice gone hoarse. "Is that really you?" He blinked sleepily, then after a few moments, furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Ed? What are you talking about?" My eyes widened, and I felt that desperate hope that this really was Al, that this wasn't just an illusion.

"Al? Al? It is you, right? You're not... we succeeded, right? You got your body back..." Now Al was alert, sitting upright in his band and looking at me concernedly with those blue, terribly blue eyes.

"Ed? Are you all right?" I let out a nervous chuckle.

"But you remember, don't you? We were looking for the philosopher's stone... And then Dante –"

"The philosopher's stone?" Oh why, oh why did he sound so incredulous? "We had nothing to do with that! That was all Harry Potter. Ed, are you sure you're all right?" I began backing away. No... this wasn't Al. How could he be?

Everything was all wrong. This couldn't be real, it was just a lie. What had happened? I had been battling with Dante, and suddenly Al was here, and I didn't know what was going on –

I ran. I ran, out the door, out the tower, to _outside_, where I could think, breathe.

What had happened? Why did that boy look so much like Al? And why had he responded to that name? I leaned back against the tower walls, breathing heavily. What was –

My vision doubled, and I groaned, clutching my head.

_Hello? _a voice said, nervously, and I dimly recognized my own voice. _Who are you? _What in the world –

And then it suddenly made horrifying sense.

"Oh, Hell..." My hands shook, my right, live, _real_ hand shook. "I think I'm in someone else's body."

And so this must be the other side of the Gate, a perfect world where Al and I had never attempted the human transmutation...

My eyes widened when I finally took in the sight around me. It was a castle, complete with towers and a wide, expansive lake. What in the world... Why were Al and this... other me... here?

Nothing made sense. What was this place? How did I get here? And more importantly, how do I get back? My fight with Dante wasn't finished, and I still had to save Al. Damn it, I couldn't just let him die!

I slammed my fist against the tower wall and winced as soft flesh hit hard stone wall. Right. No automail.

It just made me feel even worse, even more wretched. What was going on? I had to _think_, damn it.

If I was in somebody else's body... Then maybe my own body hadn't crossed over the Gate, only my mind and soul. So theoretically, if I could give myself a push in the right direction, I should reunite with my body.

But how could I create that push? How could I separate _my _mind and soul from _this _body? Maybe... a reversal transmutation of Al's blood seal? To instead disconnect the soul and body rather than to connect it? It was too risky, and if it failed...

My thoughts were interrupted by a voice, a voice that sent my mind into a blind, frenzied panic.

"Ed? What are you doing!? It's dangerous out here!" It was Not Al. The boy who looked so much like him, yet wasn't him.

My eyes widened. No. No... This wasn't really Al. I couldn't – I couldn't...

So I ran away.

I ran into the forest, and no one could stop me.

I ran until I was suddenly falling, and no – no – why wasn't my alchemy working! I couldn't stop, I couldn't save myself –

A sickening crack as this body crashed down to the ground. A horrifying _snap_, and then I was back at the Gate.

What had happened? Had I –?

Yes, I had, I realized with a sick feeling in my gut. I had _killed _an innocent boy named Ed just so I could get back here...


	2. Brother

A/N: Kudos to whoever recognizes the asterism. Before I had line breaks, but I edited it away and then replaced with three asterisks, but for some reason that didn't appear and there was no section break at all. So I'm using the asterism, even though it's a little too small so I also put it three times, even though the three asterisks are already in there. (Fanfiction formatting problems...) Tell me if there's a part that seems like there should be a section break and there isn't.

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><p><strong><em>Brother<em>**

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><p>I pushed against the gate, demanding it to let me though. I pushed and pushed, and finally it let me through, and I collapsed to the ground. Was I back?<p>

"Brother!?" It was Al, truly _Al_, with that metallic echo in his voice.

"Alphonse?" Then I noticed again, my hand numb. Unfeeling. "My automail. I'm really here. But..." An image of the other Al, calling out for his brother. "Did that mean that the other Ed had to die? His life... traded for mine?" No... It wasn't fair... What had he ever done to deserve this?

"Quite an amazing feat, Edward." My gaze snapped up toward the man who had spoken, and my eyes widened with surprise.

"Doctor Marcoh? I never did know where you went." Had he been here all along, working with Dante?

His form changed, and I knew it was only Envy. That shape-shifting bastard. I growled.

"Sure you did, Ed." Hughes' familiar, lilting tone filled my ears. "After all, you were the one who found the old doc and just waved goodbye as he went into the Fuhrer's custody! Now that was a great idea." No. He couldn't mean... "Poor thing ended up in that thing's stomach." He pointed at Gluttony, and I stared at the monster.

It was all my fault again...

"Wouldn't have died if you hadn't had tracked him down." I turned back to glare at Envy. "Of course, you were bad luck for a lot of us, weren't you?" And suddenly Hughes, no _Envy_, took out his knives and threw them at me. I hurriedly dodged, still disoriented.

"I'd still be with my wife and adorable girl if I hadn't met you. It must be tough, fighting a friend you've already killed once!" He lunged, and again, I clumsily dodged.

Why? Why did those words hurt when I knew they weren't true? When I knew it wasn't actually Hughes speaking?

Because he was right... It was all my fault...

He came at me again, and this time I managed to get behind him and put him in a choke hold. No, I couldn't let this guilt stop me. This wasn't Hughes; this was Envy. _A monster_.

"Is that all you got?" I said through gritted teeth, anger coursing through my body.

"Release me," he begged, so much like Hughes.

"Impersonations with guilt trips attached!?"

"Damn you..."

"You'll have to do better than that! You're still a homunculus under that face! Have you forgotten what I did to your friend Sloth? I killed her while she was wearing the fave of my own mother!" Envy's face turned, and became something else. Became... _her_.

"Really?" she said, and my grip loosened. "That must have been very hard for you." Envy kicked me in the gut and chuckled, transforming back into himself.

"So, not as tough as you think," he taunted, and I growled, clapping my hands together.

"I'd reconsider the use of alchemy if I were you," Dante suddenly spoke from behind me. I froze for a moment, glancing wearily backwards, but then made a noise of disbelief.

"And you think I'm going to listen to you?"

"Go ahead if you want, it's not like _I _care what happens to your brother." Envy smirked, and my eyes widened, only now fully taking in the situation.

Al was lying in the middle of a transmutation circle... The Human Transmutation circle.

"The philosopher's stone has already been activated." Dante's words, confirming my worst fears. "If transmutations occurred near him, who knows what could happen." No... Damn it –

"Let's find out." Envy's face was suddenly right next to mine, and then he kicked me in the stomach. I doubled over, then clumsily dodged the next attack. When the next one made contact though, I rolled back up onto my feet and backed away.

"You're going to pay for that!" I growled, and now the homunculus somehow back-flipped to the other side of the room.

"Keep trying, Ed," he laughed. "I'm much stronger than you." But then Wrath grabbed onto his leg, and I was able to barrel into him, rolling around until I was finally on top. I punched him, kept on punching him to wipe the smirk off of his face.

This bastard... This bastard! He kept on changing faces, _pleaded _with me with the faces and voices of those I loved.

"Show me what you really look like!" I demanded, screamed. "Stop being a _coward _who's only real power is to hide beneath other people's faces!" His grin turned evil and sadistic.

"Do you really want to see?" I pulled my fist back.

"Stop jerking me around!" The fist descended.

"You asked for it!" And then he changed... he changed into...

Hohenheim?

"What's wrong? I thought you wanted to see?"

No... Not the bastard himself, but –

"You're... his son?" After all these years, this still hurt. That he would betray our mother like this... Have another child that wasn't _us_.

"Envy was the first homunculi," Dante explained, so calmly, so matter-of-factly. My hands shook. "Created by Hohenheim almost four hundred years ago. He was the result of the failed human transmutation of our son, who died prematurely from Mercury poisoning. I suppose you could say that Envy was once your brother." Brother? No...

"And then he abandoned me." The bitterness was so clear in Envy's voice. "He started fresh with his _perfect _wife and kids. Needless to say, I never did like being replaced." Suddenly, his eyes widened, turning feral, and then there was so much blood, blood, blood... Blossoming pain in my chest...

His arm through my stomach – the man who was my _brother_...

Thoughts trailed away. But still one word, one word.

"Brother?"

A whisper, a whisper, and then it was gone.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

I was standing in front of the Gate. Strangely, I felt calm, relaxed. It was finally over, and now it was my time to go.

_It always comes back to this, huh. The Gate and this place_. I smiled ruefully at it.

But then... Al was suddenly there, gone again only a moment later. Into the Gate, I knew.

"Al?" I whispered, and then that feeling of peace left, and I was jerked back into the world of the living.

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Rose was crouched in front of me when I opened my eyes.

"Edward? Can you hear me?" she whispered, her voice so frail. I wondered what was wrong, why she seemed so fragile, why there was moisture on my cheeks.

"Yeah." I wiped the warm tears away, and gave a weak smirk. "What am I crying for?" But then I noticed, once again. My right arm. It was real. Like when I was in the alternate dimension, but... I was _here_.

"Al?" No... he couldn't have. I remembered now, I had died. So why, _why was I still alive?_

"He used alchemy to bring you back, Ed. After you died." Her voice was so gentle, so worried, and it tore me apart.

"The philosopher's stone... He used it to fix my body and pull my soul from the Gate? But then... Then what happened to him!?" His soul had been bonded to the stone. He couldn't have used it. He _couldn't _have._  
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But Rose only gave a small gasp and glanced away. I felt everything break inside of me.

"Don't tell me... Don't tell me he's gone, Rose." But her face said it all.

No... No. It couldn't be.

"Al. Al! AL!" My voice echoed in the ballroom, only the sound of a baby's cry responding.

No... Al...

I can't let it end like this. I'm sorry, Al, but I can't.

I looked at Rose and smiled sadly.

This would be goodbye.

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I stood on top of the human transmutation circle, smaller ones written in blood over my mind, heart, soul, and body.

"Maybe Dante was right. Maybe life has no equal trade. Maybe you can give up all you've got and get nothing back. But still... Even if I can't prove it's true, I have to try. For your sake, Al." I closed my eyes and clapped my hands together.

Now it truly was my time to go.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

...

But life had decided to play some cruel joke on me, because I was still alive. And in front of me stood the other Al, the Al whose brother I had killed.


	3. A Monster

A/N: Enjoy!

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><p><strong><em>A Monster<em>**

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><p>"Ed?" he hesitantly called from entrance to the tower. "Ed, is that you?"<p>

"Al?" I _knew _this wasn't him, but I couldn't help but respond. He was just so much like... So much like Al.

Al. _Al._ What had I done wrong? Why was I still alive? Damn it, I shouldn't be alive! It was equivalent exchange, my life for his!

But then this Al ran up to me and swept me into a hug, and I was stunned.

"Brother! Where were you? You've been missing for a week! I was so worried..."

I stared at him in mortification, and felt that familiar wrench of guilt. God truly hated me. I had killed this boy's brother and he thought I was _him_.

"Ed? Are you all right?" He backed away and not scrutinized me, absorbing every detail. I remained frozen under his gaze. "You look older. And... why do you have long hair? What _happened_?"

I didn't reply. _Couldn't _reply. How could I tell him, tell him that I'm not really his brother and I _killed _him?

So I took the coward's way out and said nothing. God, how I hated myself for this, to not have the courage to put out that spark of hope in his eyes, that boy who looked so much like Al.

"Edward?" he now said hesitantly. "What happened to you?" And then suddenly, the dam broke and there were hot, burning tears flowing down my face. I was _crying _of all things. Why? It was so selfish to cry now, after Al couldn't for all those years. When I still didn't even know if he was still _alive..._

"Al..." It wasn't for him, but he thought it was. He was now comforting me, telling me in a soft crooning voice, "It's all right now, Ed, I'm here, I'm here..."

But it only made it worse. Because this wasn't really Al. He wasn't... he wasn't my brother...

Somehow I was led inside the castle, to a small cozy room filled with books with a small cozy man inside reading those books.

"Professor Flitwick?" The boy who was Not Al said, and the man started.

"Alphonse? It's in the middle of the night!" He squinted at me. "And who is this?" I watched as his eyes widened in realization, and again I felt that bitter tug of guilt. "Your brother! You found him!" A grin nearly split his face into two and he bounded off his chair to embrace us into a hug. I stood stiff, frozen against his body's warmth.

Why was this happening? _Why _couldn't they see I wasn't really this Al's brother?

"Oh, these are dark times," the short man was saying into our shirts, "But now we can at least celebrate the return of one student to us!" He let go of us and smiled an old, crinkly, tired smile. "And we will celebrate, indeed. Come, we must tell Dumbledore!"

Oh god, I felt so awful. Al kept on giving me these reassuring glances, and Flitwick was looking so overjoyed, I just couldn't bring myself to tell them. To tell them that _their _Ed was dead, and I had killed him..._  
><em>

"Ah, we're here! _Acid pops!_" I jumped when the stone gargoyle suddenly sprung to life, stairs appearing as it turned. I let out a small gasp and Not Al looked at me oddly before followed Flitwick up the stairs. After a moment's hesitation, I followed as well.

What had happened? Some kind of alchemy triggered by a key word? But I remembered when I tried alchemy in the other Ed's body, I... (I forced my thoughts away from Al's worried face, calling my name)... The alchemy hadn't worked.

Cautiously, I clapped my hands together and touched the stairway wall, envisioning only a simple transmutation where molecules would be transported through space. But nothing was happening; no spark, no rebound, not even a _hint _that I was performing alchemy at all.

Maybe I had to draw a full transmutation circle, instead of –

"Ed? What are you doing?" It was Not Al, staring at me worringly, and I jumped guiltily. I looked at him and planned to apologize, to lie, to say _anything_, but nothing came out when I saw that face again. Al's face.

So instead I despondently trudged up the rest of the stairs, saying nothing.

"Ed?" Again, I flinched, but I couldn't respond to him. How could I, when he wore the face of my own little brother?

Al... Had my transmutation worked? Why was I still alive? How could I be, after all I had done? Envy had the right idea, to end my miserable existence so I could never hurt another person again. Why had Al sacrificed himself for someone as _worthless _as I was?

I couldn't even die properly.

It came out easy now, the tears. My eyes were already wet and moist from before, and they seemed eager to once again cover my face in that hot, burning liquid.

Self-hate boiled off me in crashing waves. Damn it, why was I still alive!? It had been equivalent exchange, my life for his! If Al wasn't somewhere out there, living on, then I had no life to live anymore. No purpose, if it wasn't for him. Just look at myself, all the pain I had caused. Hughes, Doctor Marcoh, Nina, all dead. The other Edward. Lust. Even from my own little Brother I had robbed away his life, like the fool I had been. I had taken away his body, his ability to feel, smell, eat, or touch. And now I had finally robbed him of his soul.

But then, suddenly, there was a warm arm around me. It was _him _(and for a moment, I let myself believe that this was the _real _Al, not some illusion made up by the Gate), and I knew. I knew it would be all right. Because Al was with me. He was right here. My little brother.

"Edward, what happened to you?" It was an old man's gentle voice, and I lifted my head to see him past my bangs. He was old, with a long while beard and a pointy hat, but I felt strangely comforted by his strange appearance.

"What happened to me?" I echoed, and he nodded, urging me to continue. "I –" My throat closed, and I realized again, the hard, bitter truth. This was a lie. I wasn't really the Edward that they cared about, that they loved and would treat to gently, so kindly. No. I was the monster who had killed that boy.

I wrenched my body away from Not Al's warm embrace and stood up on shaky legs.

"No. No, I'm not –" I couldn't get it out. I _couldn't_.

I was such a coward.

"We understand." The old man spoke soothingly. "You need time to rest. We understand." No, damn it, you don't understand. Can't you see you're all just making it so much worse?

But I didn't say any of that. I only followed helplessly along as Not Al gently led me, the man who had killed his brother, to the tower so I could get some rest, to recover from what had apparently been a terrible ordeal.

I closed my eyes. Why couldn't they just see that I wasn't the Edward they knew? _Why _had life decided to play this cruel, cruel joke on me?

_Why was I still alive?_


	4. To Believe

A/N: I made some minor edits to the previous chapters. Some things were bothering me, but not really much about that to say.

By the way, Matthews is a pretty lame last name, but I've been trying to come up with one for a few days now. Heiderich obviously wouldn't work since that's German, and then Elric was their mother's last name. Since Hohenheim has been dead for about 300 years, Trisha Elric has married some guy named _ Matthews instead, and so that is their last name. If anybody can come up with a better British last name that fits with the names "Alphonse" and "Edward" and also come up with a first name for that guy, then I'd be extremely happy. Thanks!

And thanks to everyone who followed/favorited/reviewed :)

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><p><em><strong>To Believe<strong>_

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><p>I had somehow managed to get some rest in the fitful jerking called sleep. I had seen it all over again, the human transmutation, the work mistake in our lives. But this time, included was the agony of losing Al for a final time, of dieing oh-so-many times. Of seeing Al go past me, through the Gate without even saying goodbye. Without ever achieving our goal.<p>

"Ed?" And there it was, the other Al's voice. It made the memories worse.

Slowly, I got up from the bed, stretching stiff muscles and blinking bleary eyes. I took a look at his hopeful face, then adverted my eyes. I couldn't stand ooking at someone who looked so much like _him_, yet wasn't. Not yet, anyway.

"Where are we?" I instead asked softly. I saw his eyes widen.

"Hogwarts, in the Ravenclaw dorms. Don't you recognize it, Ed?" I hesitated, then mutely shook my head.

"Hogwarts?" I croaked. He grew more alarmed.

"You don't remember Hogwarts?"A pause, then his voice hardened. "Ed, what's your least favorite drink?" But I could hear the hopeless desperation in his voice, and I knew what he was really looking for:

Are you my brother?

I wished that he hadn't asked this now, when I felt so dead inside, when I had just woken up from the memories of the past. I knew I could not tell him, just tell him – his heart would break, but it wouldn't be as bad. He had already hardened himself to it, that I might not be his brother. If I told him now, he would live on.

"Ed?" There, the worry was now plain to hear, thick in his voice. And suddenly I knew that he wasn't hardened to it at all; this was his desperate plea. A desperate plea to have his big brother back, and if I told him "I don't know," he would break. Break because the person who mattered most was dead.

And I could never let that happen to Al, even if he was only a copy of the brother I knew and loved.

"It's milk," I said, finally looking up at him. "I hate milk."

The answering grin was like the sun to me. It was everything I had worked for, for Al to have his body back and smile this same grin. And for a moment, just for a moment, seeing that grin on this boy's face was enough for me. Enough to keep on living, to keep on moving forward.

Because no matter what it took, I'd get back home, and I'll find _my _Al waiting with that same grin to greet me.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Once again, we were in Dumbledore's office. This time though, there were many more adults gathered, all wearing oddly pointed hats.

"As you all can see," Dumbledore began softly, "One student, Edward Matthews has been returned to us." Smiles and applause all around, but a jolt went through me at the name "Matthews". It sounded so alien to me, so wrong after my name. Did the Edward and Alphonse of this world have different parents?

"Dumbledore, are you certain that this is truly Edward Matthews?" The hook nosed man's voice had a certain drawl to it, a pompous air that irritated me. I stiffened at it, and only relaxed when Dumbledore spoke again.

"Severus, the boy has been through a lot." The old man turned to Alphonse. "But you do raise a good point. Alphonse, are you certain this is your brother?"

"Yes." His voice was so strong, so confident. "I already asked him the question." I tried not to feel sick, sick with guilt. For this moment, I knew I couldn't tell him. Neither he nor I could take the truth. But I also told myself that someday, I would see Al again. Someday, I swore, I would see my Al again, and I was able to push away this feeling of guilt. Enough to wonder, to think about what they were saying.

Why were they so concerned that I wasn't really Edward?

I asked them, and they all stared at me, startled.

"Ed... You don't know?" Al finally asked hesitantly.

"Know what?" What was I missing? What was going on?

"How much do you remember? About the war? You-Know-Who? Hogwarts?" I stared at him stupidly, this boy who looked so much like Al yet spoke such odd things. And like the idiot I was, I repeated the last word he said without thought, without knowing anything.

"Hogwarts?" I said, and suddenly everybody was staring at me suspiciously, Al working to reassure them. "He was like this before... Maybe he just needs some time..." The man named Severus pushed him aside, and grabbed my arm roughly to pull me into a position so that we were making eye contact.

"Are you Edward Matthews?" he snapped.

_Tumbling, falling – sharp branched shredding my clothes – a sickening _crack –

I jerked away from his grasp.

"Wha – Stay away from me!" I stepped back until I was a safe distance away from the man. Now, everybody was glaring at _him_.

"Severus! That was quite uncalled for," Dumbledore reprimanded, and there was an angry flush to the other man's face. However, the old man's face softened when he turned to me.

"Edward, do you remember anything about what happened?"

"I –" I glanced at Alphonse. I couldn't tell him. Not yet, when he had only just found his brother again. "I don't know."

"You don't know? Perhaps there was some aging potion involved or a time turner..." He trailed off at my incredulous look. "Edward, do you remember anything about magic?" I furrowed my eyebrows. Magic? Did they mean alchemy?

I felt so damned oblivious to what was going on, and it was driving me insane. Was that why the the stairs had appeared to the office at only a key word? Was that why I had thought I'd seen that painting _snore _only moments earlier?

It didn't make any sense. So I finally shook my head no to the old man's question.

"I see." His voice was sad and tired. "I believe that means that either someone has cast a very powerful _obliviate _spell on you, or it is so terrible that your mind refuses to remember. Edward, may I?" He gestured to me, and I nodded hesitantly, unsure of what he was intending. And not unlike Severus had, he positioned me so that we were making directly eye contact. Immediately, there were a flood of images, memories, faces, before it focused on one.

The Gate.

I jumped, and eye contact was broken once more.

"Didn't you just tell your friend Severus to not do that?" I muttered angrily, careful now to not look at any of their faces. Dumbledore wasn't listening to me anymore though.

"Ah, yes, I believe that means the latter... Edward, would you, by chance, know what that was?" I froze. Had he seen it too? Was that what they were doing, _reading my mind_?

How? Maybe there was some kind of alchemy that allowed him to observe my brain, where each chemical could form a certain image...

Alphonse tugged me away from my thoughts, protectively placing himself between the adults and me, glaring at them for doing such a thing to his brother.

"You were using _llegimens_, weren't you?" His glare grew more pronounced at their sheepish looks. "Brother needs rest. I thought you were going to _help _him, not interrogate him!"

"Al..." There he was again, protecting me, just like my Al. Didn't they ever realize that we were the older brothers and supposed to protect _them_?

Now, a strict-looking woman spoke up.

"Alphonse, we need to know what happened before we can know what's wrong."

"Professor McGonagall, I know that. But it won't help either! He doesn't know anything anymore! For all we know, the Death Eaters _tortured _him!" Death Eaters?

"And you think that he'd still be standing here if he was?" Severus asked dryly.

"Yes, I believe that is not the case," Dumbledore began grandly. "But Alphonse may be right. So lets' –" I couldn't take not knowing anymore, to have other people decide my life as I watched obliviously.

"What the hell is going on!?"

Total silence.

I seemed to have that effect a lot.

* * *

><p>AN: Oh, yeah. It makes sooo much of a difference if you ask politely to do llegimens than to do it forcefully. Nice one, Dumbledore. (I actually like all of these teachers... They just don't always do nice things to our "nice" main characters... And vice versa.)

Anyway! I actually have a goal with this fanfiction. I'm going to try to finish it within two weeks. That means less updates on other stories, but more within this one. It's just easier for me to concentrate on one story instead of hopping from one to another. This one isn't going to be too long I think. Then I'll go back to fixing New Lead and actually updating Twisted Ways (wow that's been almost a month now). Good news though, I have already written the next chapter and then started writing the one after that. I just need to type them up. Expect updates pretty often, because I'm going to try to finish this story. We'll see how that goes.

Have an awesome life :)


	5. A Promise

A/N: Wow... I just realized that Alphonse should be a year under Ed... But you know, that doesn't matter that much, does it? Right...

Enjoy!

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><p><strong><em>A Promise<em>**

* * *

><p>It was Dumbledore who recovered first.<p>

"I must apologize for leaving you in such a state of confusion." Damn right, you should. "When you were eleven years old, you first got your invitation to Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry." What? "On that same year, Harry Potter also got his invitation." I frowned.

"Harry Potter?" I remember, last time Al had mentioned him. Something about the philosopher's stone...

"You really don't remember?" Al burst in incredulously. I stared at him, unable to express my bewilderment properly. This was a life that I had never lived, and here was a brother who wasn't really my brother. And yet, he looked so much like him, excepting those gentle blue eyes.

"Please, Alphonse. You had just been telling me to not pressure him," Dumbledore said, but with a twinkle in his eyes that muted the harshness of his words.

"Sorry, Professor." He looked both embarrassed and ashamed when he turned to me apologetically. "Sorry, Ed."

"S' alright, Al," I mumbled. I looked back at Dumbledore. "But who's Harry Potter?"

"The boy who lived." It was not Dumbledore who spoke, but Severus, disdain clear in his voice. "He is called so because of all people to face the Dark Lord, he was the only one to survive. And he wasn't even a year old."

"The Dark Lord?"

"Voldemort." Everybody flinched slightly when Dumbledore spoke his name. Even Al, in his protective position in front of me, winced. Why were so many people afraid of a _name_? If Al and I had been so scared of an enemy, we'd never have...

Never what? We'd never be in this mess if we hadn't attempted human transmutation. Now I'd never know if Al was dead or alive...

My throat caught, and then there was a warm hand around mine.

"Ed?" It was the Other Al's voice, soft and full of worry. Deeper than my Al's had been.

I jerked my hand away.

"I'm fine," I said, and looked up to find them all staring at me. Alphonse with a hurt expression on his face. I glanced away.

"Sorry." A deep sigh from Dumbledore.

"Edward, are you sure you don't remember what happened? Nothing about magic? About that gate in your mind?" Involuntarily, I flinched when I heard "Gate". Dumbledore didn't know what it meant, but I did. Everything was tied to that damn thing. The Human Transmutation, the Truth inside, my death, _Alphonse_...

"Nothing," I said, tasting the lie between clenched teeth. "I don't remember any of it."

"I see." Dumbledore suddenly looked so old, so tired, and once again I felt the stab of guilt. How could I simply stand by and cause all of this pain? But he spoke first, shouldering his burdens even as they took their toll on him.

"Alphonse, please take your brother back to the dorms please."

"But you haven't found what's wrong yet!" Not Al protested, and the old man gave another sad smile.

"Like you said, Alphonse, sometimes all you can do is wait."

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Alphonse lead me through the halls and corridors of Hogwarts, and now I wondered why I had been so blind to all of the signs when we walked down the same route only half an hour earlier.

Magic.

There was a horse and his knight galloping from painting to painting, other figured within gasping as he galloped by, muttering darkly about Sir Cadogan and his obvious insanity.

Magic.

The stairs moved. How had I missed that? Alphonse and I had to wait for them to go back into the position that would lead us to where we wanted to go.

Magic.

There were suits of armor lining the hall. I thought I had seen one move. But that could be alchemy, couldn't it? Because Al had been like that...

Alchemy. Magic. Damn it, I didn't know enough! I _knew _that alchemy couldn't do this so how... How was this possible? Paintings couldn't come to life, stairs couldn't move of their own accord, hover in the air like that. It defied all scientific fact. It denied everything I knew.

Unless all of them were bonded to a soul.

It made me feel sick. It had been bad enough in Lab 5, to know that some other sick creature had come up with the same idea, to bond a soul to a suit of armor. But _this_, this was everywhere, in everything. What kind of person had taken so many human lives in order to create this, a castle seemingly full of wonder, a castle floating on lies? They had said these were dark times, like they were the victims, but how could they be when they lived in _this_._  
><em>

But... there was the chance that this was exactly what I needed so I could research a way to get home. If they had so much here related to human transmutation, then there might be something about the Gate. But Dumbledore hadn't known what it was...

"Ed?" Alphonse's voice startled me from my thoughts and I glanced around wildly to figure out where we were. Not the tower, that was clear. Instead, we stood in front of large doors in the middle of an empty corridor.

"Didn't Dumbledore say the dorms?" I asked, confused. He gave me a sheepish grin.

"Yeah, but I thought it would be better if you ate something." He pushed open the doors, and I followed him in cautiously.

The first thing I noticed what the ceiling. It expanded into the sky, candles floating midair. No strings evident. I hated it, hated how it defied the logic I had devoted my life to. What we had devoted our lives to. Al and me, trying to get our bodies back.

Next was the whispers. Whispers at first of "who is he?" then gradually recognition. And then the questions: "What happened to him?", "Why is his hair long?", "Why isn't he in his robes?". And then, the pity.

All my life I'd been given that look. Pity. I hated it, hated it more than this place, a defiance of logic or a haven for murder. When we were younger... "Poor boys, your father abandoned you." Yes, damn it, we know that. Then, "your mother died? Oh, I'm so sorry." 'We know!' I would scream in my head. 'We know she's dead, we know, just leave us alone!' Then after the transmutation, still the pity. "You're missing your arm and leg? But you're just a kid!" Damn it, why were they feeling sorry for _me_? I was the one who – it was all my fault that...

And now, the whispers. The whispers of pity, for how much pain I must've been through, how terrible it must have been. "Poor boy." Oh yes, poor boy. The boy who couldn't accept death when he lost his mother and so stole everything from his brother. The boy who had killed Edward Matthews, who they were _really _pitying. It wasn't even for me. They thought I was _him_.

I killed him. I remembered – falling, dieing, with a sickening _crack_ –

I closed my eyes. I felt so dizzy. Everything my fault. No, don't look at me like that, not with that pity I couldn't bear –

"Ed?" I could hear the worry, the panic in his voice. His voice? That wasn't Al. This voice was deeper, more adult.

Still, it reminded me. It pulled me back into the living. It told me yes, Al was still alive. One day, one day I would see him again. No matter what.

"Brother? Ed, are you all right?" I opened my eyes. Yes, there was his face. There was Al's face, and my promise that no matter what, I'd see him again.

"I'm fine." He wasn't convinced. "Al, I'm fine. Really." I smiled at him to show him, and hesitantly, he led me to one of the tables. The one covered in blue banners, an image of an eagle splayed over them. I wondered what it meant.

"_Edward__?_" A boy with a ridiculous grin on his face greeted me when I sat down with Alphonse. "You're alive! Sorry 'bout before, I was a little angry then, but that's not important. By jolly, you're alive!" I was the deer, frozen in the headlights. Did he know me? Did I know him? No... I wasn't really the Edward they knew...

I looked helplessly at Alphonse, who had been staring at me worriedly. He glanced away, somehow embarrassed at being caught staring.

"Kevin, Ed doesn't remember anything." He then added with a glare, "_Anything_. He needs time." Now other kids were leaning into us, wanting a part in the conversation.

"Anything?" A boy with dark curly hair asked. "What exactly do you mean by 'anything'?" ALphonse looked at them irritably.

"That means nothing about magic, You-Know-Who, or the war. So shove off!" Eventually, they backed away, and I was openly staring at Alphonse. "Shove off"... My Al would have never said anything like that. So why...

Strangely, I found myself chuckling. _Al _(it didn't matter that this wasn't my Al), had just told someone off. And their faces – !

Alphonse was worried about me, I knew, watching me break into hysterics. He also had this look of helpless confusion on his face that made me laugh even harder.

"_Their... Their faces!_" I finally managed to gasp out. "_And you!_" More laughter, and then Alphonse gave a hesitant chuckle too, and the whole room was looking at us oddly.

I didn't care. It felt good to laugh. It had been so long since Al and I had been so carefree. After we discovered the truth about the philosopher's stone, there had been to much on our minds. But now, _now_, all what was left was getting back home and finding Al there.

Because I had made a promise, damn it, and I will get back home. I will get back to my little brother.


	6. Helpless

A/N: Rant Deleted. If you actually like reading author's rants, then PM me and I'll glady send you all of them! Here, I'll make a special GDoc just for keeping these... (The sad thing is, I actually am...)

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong><em>Helpless<em>**

* * *

><p>We were in the library, my own personal heaven. I had gathered various books that seemed useful – stuff like <em>Basics <em>_to Magic_, or _History of Magic_ – and set them down at the table where Alphonse was waiting for me.

"You always like to read so much," he chuckled, as if he wasn't guilty of the same. We had already accumulated a long, hazard stash of books on the table. "But I guess that's why were in Ravenclaw, right, Ed?" I blinked.

"Ravenclaw? A claw... of a raven?" There was a pained look in his eyes before he covered it with a sheepish grin.

"Yeah, sorry. I keep on forgetting. In Hogwarts, we have four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Gryffindor for bravery, Ravenclaw for intelligence, Hufflepuff for loyalty, and Slytherin for amibition."

"So we're in Ravenclaw, huh?" My voice was casual, but I was too focused on that hurt I had seen. Was I causing this Al pain too? By pretending I didn't remember anything? By pretending I'm someone I'm not?

I tried to ignore the sick lurch in my stomach. His brother was dead. I had killed him.

"Al?" I said tentatively.

"Yeah?"

"I'm... I'm sorry." Sorry for lying to you, sorry for pretending. Sorry for being such a coward that I could never tell you this.

"Ed? There's nothing to be sorry about." He smiled reassuringly. "I'm just glad you're back."

Glad I'm back?

I could have laughed.

I wasn't back. I never really was him...

"Yeah," I murmured distractedly.

Why had I decided not to tell him, again? Why? It would only get worse as time went on.

Of course. It was that damn hopeful look on his face.

I picked up a book and tried to hide myself from it, to immerse myself into the logistics of magic.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

I discovered, later, that there weren't, in fact, any logistics to magic. Alphonse was already becoming disturbed by my glowering.

"Ed? Are you all right?" I groaned and set the book down.

"It just doesn't make any sense!" He frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Magic! There's no theory to it, no logic, _nothing_! It shouldn't even be possible!" Strangely, Alphonse had an amused expression on his face.

"_What_?" I snapped. His grin grew wider.

"It's exactly like before, when we just discovered magic. We kept on trying to find sense in it, _how _exactly it worked..." He trailed off, but there was a nostaligic smile on his face.

"Did you ever figure it out?" I asked. He started.

"Well, no. We just decided that it was its own force, acting against gravity and whatnot." He shrugged. "Other people had probably come up with better." He then let out a massive yawn.

"Well, we've already been in here for a few hours already. It's getting late." Alphonse stood up and stretched. "Ready to go back to the tower?" I glanced at the books, sighed wistfully, and then finally got up.

"You can take them with us, you know."

"Really?" I felt like an excited child the day before Christmas. I grabbed the books and happily trudges alongside Alphonse out of the library.

"Thanks." I grinned at him, and he returned it.

"I only told you. Besides, there are more books back in the common room."

"The common room?"

"Each house has one; it's the room right before the dorms."

"Oh." I think I remembered.

"But you can't go into the girls' dorms."

I stopped. It took a moment to process that.

"Wha – Were you expecting me to!?" My face turned red as I spoke, and Alphonse laughed. Grudgingly, I began walking again.

"You're blushing!" he said, and I gave him a dirty look.

"Shut up. I'm not – I wasn't going to..." I stammered before before finally narrowing my eyes at him. "Al, you have a dirty mind."

"I didn't even mean it like that!" he protested.

"Oh? Then what did you mean?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's _your _mind that's gone to the gutter, Ed. I only said that it was _impossible _to go to the girls' dorms." Huh? Impossible?

"What do you mean?" He sighed.

"The stairs turn into slides, and then there are a whole load of other jinxes that activate." He grinned wickedly. "But I think Michael Corner tried once."

"_What_!?" Nevermind that I didn't know who he was. "He... Why? No, nevermind. I'm not sure I want to know." Then a thought occured to me, and I stared at Alphonse suspiciously. "You haven't tried to get in, have you, Al?"

He looked so mortified at the idea that I was immediately reassured of his innocence. And luckily for him, he was saved from answering by our arrival at the tower entrance where a large door stood, only a knocker in the shape of an eagle adorning the plain wood.

Then the eagle came to life.

"_What enemy, no matter how we cling to it, always defeats us in the end__?_" Alphonse gave me a helpless look, and I stared at him in bewilderment.

"Ed, can you help me with this one?" Help? It's a riddle? And we're meant to... solve it? I turned my gears in my head, thinking about it.

"Life? Since we always cling to it so desperately, but it eventually wears us down."

The door swung open, and Alphonse gave me a victorious grin.

"Nice one, Ed."

Now we were in the common room, and I took in the surroundings. Like Al had said, there were plenty of books scattered around the spacious room – on the bookshelves, on tables, on chairs, and even splayed all over the floor. However, the most awe-inspiring sight was the full view of the grounds from the large, open window.

I had seen it before briefly, when I had been outside or perhaps when I subconsciously noted the window as I passed through the room, but that was nothing compared to the glory of seeing it now. The lake twinkled with starlight; the moon shone bright and gentle; the forest deep and threatening. I could see other parts of the castle from here too – there was another tower, reaching even higher into the sky; there was a small hut near the forest, nearly obscured by the dark shadows cast from the wicked branches. And there, there was a large field surrounded by large stands. What was that? Some kind of stadium?

I turned to Al excitedly.

"Hey, have you –" But I stopped. When I had turned, I had expected a metal suit of armor. My Al. Not a sudden-seeming stranger with a deeper voice, an unfamiliar body. This Alphonse had already seen this sight before, drunk in it until it was almost nothing anymore. Maybe his brother too, had shared this with him.

It stung. I'd never be able to share this in the same way with Al.

"Yes, Ed?" He had always been so patient. Never demanding, never judging. In both worlds that would always be the same.

"It's nothing." He gave me a doubtful look, but let it pass. After a few moments of lingering, we moved on to the dorms.

"Wow, we must have stayed in the library for long, if all of them have already gone to sleep," he remarked, his lips twitching as we stumble onto the sight of five snoring boys.

"Which one's Michael?" I asked, and Alphonse pointed to the dark, curly-haired boy I had seen in the Great Hall earlier. I felt a vicious grin creep up my face.

"So he's the one who tried to get into the girls' dorms, huh?" Alphonse sighed.

"Ed, don't do anything stupid."

"Psh. I wasn't planning on doing anything. It's just... Good to know." _Good to know_, I told myself firmly. Nothing beyond that.

The subject of our attention snored.

"Ed..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." I fell back onto the remaining bed in the room with a _plomp_. "Good night, Al." A pause. And then,

"Ed?"

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you going to change?" I frowned, and sat up so I could look at him.

"Change into what?" I didn't have any other clothes with me.

"Oh..." He sighed. "I keep on forgetting. Your clothes should be in the trunk at the foot of the bed." I crawled over, and sure enough, there was a large trunk. When I opened it, I found neatly folded sets of clothes waiting.

"What are these?" I asked, holding one up. It was some kind of robe, blue and black with the image of the eagle emblazoned on the front pocket.

"They're our robes. Like a school uniform," Al answered as he pulled his shirt off and put on a more cottony, soft shirt from his trunk. His voice was muffled for a moment when the fabric was over hid head. "But those aren't good for sleeping in. There should be some pajamas in there too."

"Pajamas?" I reinspected the trunk, and grabbed one of the cotton shirts. I held it up in the air for Alphonse to see. "This?"

"Yeah."

"Do I have to wear it?" Usually I just took off my cloak... But I had left that somewhere back home. Now I was only wearing my black jacket.

I frowned. No, that couldn't be right. When I had activated the human transmutation circle, I hadn't been wearing any shirt at all. How had my jacket and gloves suddenly appeared on me? The Gate? Why?

"What are you thinking?" I started at his voice.

"Huh?"

"See? You got that distracted look again." I blinked.

"Really?"

"Ed, you've been staring at the shirt for over a minute." I looked at him sheepishly. He was already in the soft cotton clothes.

"Can't I just take off my jacket?" I couldn't remember the last time I actually changed clothes... Maybe over a year ago. I'd just alchemize the dirt off.

"_Ed..._" he dragged out my name, his annoyance clear. "How long have you been wearing that shirt?"

Right, so that had been a over a year ago...

I decided not to answer.

"See? You were wearing it yesterday too. You probably got the bed all dirty already." I looked down, embarrassed. Al was the only one who could do that to me.

"Yeah, okay," I muttered despondently. I tugged off the gloves and was just about to take off the jacket when I caught Al staring.

"_What_? Look, I'm already –"

"Ed. Your arm..." I looked down at my hands. What was wrong? They looked perfectly normal...

"It's metal."

And then I realized.

Of course. In this world, we had never done the human transmutation. The other Al wouldn't know about my automail.

"Yeah." I struggled to not make my voice shake. Even now, my cold, unfeeling automail arm was clenched into a first.

"Ed, what _happened_?" There was so much horror in his voice, so much worry, and so much _pity_. And he was _Al_. The face of my brother, looking at me like that. Had my Al ever looked at me like that before? I couldn't remember. It had been too long since Al had his body.

_My fault..._

There were sharp, clanking sounds coming from my arm. Too much stress on it, I knew, the joints were pressed too tight and it was shocking. Odd that my real hand was doing the same.

"It's nothing," I finally said, and my voice came out harsher than I meant it to be. I looked back up at him, into his helpless, horror-filled eyes. "It's nothing, Al." I tried to make it sound gentle, reassuring, but even my second attempt came out garbled, _wrong_.

_Thisisn'tAlhedoesn'tknowAlwouldneverlookatmelikethat –_

"It's not nothing!" Just like Al would worry about me. "Ed, _please_. Show me." Reluctantly, I pulled off the rest of the jacket. He gasped.

"What did they do to you? Ed, why didn't you tell me?"

"I –" I looked away. "I thought you know." For some reason, I thought you would.

"How? How could I have known that your whole arm is _metal_? Ed... Does it go any further?"

"Only to the shoulder. But..." He noticed my hesitation.

"But what?"

"Al, I'm –" It's nowhere close to what you had to bear. "I'm missing my leg too." I closed my eyes. How could I face him? He would know, somehow, he would _know _what I did. How I had one taken everything away from him...

_But this isn't Al_.

I knew that.

Didn't I?

"Which leg?" His voice was soft. I dared to look at him again. Now, there too was anger, anger for the person who had done this.

"My left."

But no one had done this to me. I had done it to myself. To _us_.

"Ed... Ed, we'll find them, whoever did this to you." No. No one had – "Ed. Ed, please look at me." My eyes met his, gentle fierce blue.

"I promise you."

"Al..." Al, you don't understand. I'm not your brother. "Al, you can't..." But he smiled gently at me.

"Ed, don't worry. It'll be all right." No, not it wouldn't. It would never be all right again. "Here, let's go to Madam Promfrey. She'll know how to help." He got up.

"Al..." Please don't. _Please_._  
><em>

"Come on, let's go." And I followed him helplessly out the tower.

Because that's what I was. Helpless to this boy who looked so much like my brother.

* * *

><p>AN: The Ravenclaw riddle is a variant on Smeagle's riddle in the Hobbit. The correct answer would actually be "time", but I'm pretty sure that the door accepts any answer as long as it is well thought out and makes sense. Ed's answer, again, came from the English lyrics to "Brat'ja" - "Clinging to the past, I shed our blood"... And somehow that connected with life (probably the "Now all we can do is live" line). Every single time I hear the word "cling" I think of that song now...

And thanks for answering the questions that were here before too. I'm just cleaning this up a little because really, you don't need to read about how my grammar and spelling sucks after I figured out how to fix it...

Have an awesome life!


	7. Ghost of the Past

A/N: I just discovered that Lyra's voice actor also voices May Chang from Brotherhood. That's always weird, discovering that two characters are voiced by the same person

Well, no more rambling up here from me this time. I promise. Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em><strong>Ghost of the Past<strong>_

* * *

><p>It's funny how I always end up in these situations. In a hospital room, hoping they wouldn't decide to stick me with needles.<p>

I remember the first time I had to go to a doctor for something serious. It had been back in Risembool, back when Mom was still alive. Since there wasn't a proper hospital, I had to go to the Rockbells. There, I had met Winry, and there, I gained my deadly fear of needles.

I had been very sick. Mom had been worried by my rising fever and heavy breathing and immediately took me to the only doctors living in the small town: the Rockbells. When they saw me, they were worried, and I could hear their voices, talking in the room just next to the one I was in. Whispering about what to do.

When they came back, they brought the needle.

I was already weak from the fever and it was getting hard to breathe. I couldn't resist – all kids already had that slight fear of the needle – and I had started panicking. Already labored breathing became quick and shallow, and I couldn't get enough air. I passed out, Mom's voice screaming my name.

The next day, when I woke up, I stayed away from needles. It reminded me too much, too much of suffocating and near-death. Of their worry.

Al didn't know. I think he thought it was just a strange quirk his older brother had, the fear of needles. And I let him believe that, because I didn't want to worry him.

Now, I was in a hospital again. This time, something called magic existed.

Madam Pompfrey, the nurse, was pointing a stick at me.

"_Vulnera Sanetur_," she muttered, and looked surprised when nothing happened. She bit her lip and then tried it again, more fiercely.

"_Vulnera Sanetur__!_"

Nothing happened.

"Are you trying to do magic?" I finally asked. She shook her head angrily.

"It's just not _working_! But that could only mean..." She glanced at Alphonse. "That could only mean _dark magic_." Her voice had lowered to a whisper.

"Dark magic?" I asked at the same time Alphonse exclaimed, "Dark magic!

"So it was the Death Eaters. Only they could have done this." I gritted my teeth. No. Not Death Eaters. Whatever they were.

"What's _dark magic_?" I repeated, and Alphonse and the nurse shared a started glance.

"Well?"

"It's forbidden magic. Evil magic," Alphonse said.

"Why?"

"It usually involves..." He hesitated.

"_What__?_" A sigh.

"Murder."

"_What!?"_ Like the... Like the Philosopher's Stone?

"And it's not just that. There's the _crucius _curse – it tortures the victim – and _imperio_, which takes over the body. And now that You-Know-Who's back, it's only going to get worse..."

"You-Know-Who?" He wrinkled his nose.

"Snape called him 'the Dark Lord'." Snape? The hook-nosed man?

"Oh, Voldemort?" Both of them flinched, and I frowned at their reaction. "Who is he anyway?"

"Ed, he's... He's bad. A very dark wizard. Two years ago, he killed Cedric Diggory. And it's only gotten worse since then. Countless Muggles killed... "Hurricanes" coming through the country... It's been all over the news, even back home." he sighed, then added, "And we think that his followers were the ones that kidnapped you."

"The... Death Eaters?" There were so many other questions I wanted to ask. What were "Muggles"? We had a home?

"Yeah, that's what they're called," Alphonse said.

"They're horrible," Madam Pomfrey suddenly whispered. "Children are _killed _because of them. And so many have been getting hurt... Especially last year. I can't imagine, what they were thinking, all those children running into danger like that." My eyebrows furrowed.

"What happened?" I was surprised to hear Alphonse's snort.

"What usually happens. Harry Potter got into trouble, but this time, he led us into it. We had thought he was saving his godfather, but we were all tricked!" Why did Alphonse look so angry?

"What happened?" His eyes widened slightly.

"Ed, _we were there_. Are you sure you don't remember? Anything?" I shook my head, and waiting for him to continue. After a few moments passed, he seemed to calm down.

"Harry's godfather died," he said, and there was a softness in his voice, a respect for the dead. "Sirius Black. And now everybody's calling Harry 'the Chosen One'. His only family left died, and that's the reward he gets."

Al had always understood people so well. Even now, even as he speaks these words that should be spoken so bitterly, he shows compassion and understanding.

So much like my Al. My heart gave a painful squeeze.

I missed him. I missed my little brother. Even if this Alphonse looked so much like him, he could never be him.

"Al..." I whispered. I'll come back soon. I'll get back to you soon. Just wait for me.

"Yes?" My gaze snapped up to him. The boy who shared his face. Who shared his name.

I looked back down at my hands, clenched around the hospital blanket. I loosened them.

"It's nothing. Can we go now?" Alphonse looked askance from Madam Pomfrey, who reluctantly nodded.

"There's nothing I can do. But I am going to tell Dumbledore, understand?" We nodded, and quickly left the hospital wing.

"Ed, are you sure you're all right?"

"I'm fine, Al." Just like back home. Always so worried about me.

"Ed..."

"I'm fine!" He winced at my tone, and I hurriedly tried to make up for it. "I'm fine. Really, Al. I'm already used to this arm. It was hell, but -"

"How long have you had it?"

"What?"

"How long has it been? Ed, I know it couldn't have only been a week for you. You've changed. It's not just that you forgot. You seem... older. In a way that an aging potion can't do." My eyes widened.

"Al?" He couldn't know, could he? Did he figure out that I wasn't really his brother?

Good. It would hurt less that way.

"How much time has it been for you? Since you first disappeared?"

What? Did he mean...

He really did still think that I was his older brother. He didn't know at all.

"I'm sorry, Alphonse." He stared at me.

"Sorry? What are you talking about, Ed?"

"I'm a monster. I –" I killed your brother. I'm not him. "Al, I killed someone." It was the closest to the truth that I could tell him.

So much blood on my hands. Majihal. Nina. Greed. Hughes. Marta. Sloth. Alphonse's brother.

All my fault.

And I couldn't bear to see the horror that was undoubtedly in his eyes. Not when he looked so much like Al.

"Ed... You..." My throat constricted. He would hate me. He would yell at me, accuse me of being a murderer. And he should. I deserved it.

"I'm sorry."

...

What?

"I'm sorry for not being there with you. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you." I stared at him in disbelief.

"Al, you... Why? How can you forgive me? After all I did to you? I'm –"

"You're not a monster! You're my brother! I won't let you go around thinking that. You're my older brother, Edward Matthews, and don't you forget that!"

I couldn't respond. How could I? He told me so firmly, so confidently, that I was his brother. Calling me by a name that wasn't mine.

How could he not see? See me for the monster that I am? I killed his brother, and stole his name.

"Alphonse..." His choked out name. I found my voice. "Alphonse, I'm –"

"Don't say you're sorry. _Please_. You don't have anything to apologize for."

"Alphonse..." It twisted me inside, to hear him say that. A gut-wrenching pain. _Why_?

"Ed –"

A taunting voice interrupted our pain, our sharing of agony.

"Ooo, has our little bitty Eddie been found again?" What the hell? Who was saying that? "And out of bed so late, no less."

"Peeves!" Alphonse turned angrily and glared at the air. No... there was something there. A translucent figure.

What?

"What is that?"

"Ooh, did ickle Eddie forget? Such a shame he wasn't gone longer; he hasn't grown at all!"

"I'm not short!" I snapped at the figure. Damn it, I didn't care that I didn't know what that thing was, he just insulted my height!

"Ed, he's a poltergeist. Arguing back will only make it worse," Al muttered softly. My gaze remained fixed on the thing.

"Ooh, and he has such a _short _temper!" What exactly was this guy trying to pull? I snarled and lunged at the translucent figure, but he only floated higher.

"Can't reach me? Maybe if you were a little bit _taller_..." His taunt turned into a yelp when this time my leap reached him. However, my fingertips only passed through him like fine mist.

"What the heck?" I stared at my gloved hand. No sign that I had even touched him at all. I lifted my fingers to my nose and sniffed. No odor either. "What are you –" However, when I looked up, the "ghost" wasn't there anymore. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"Ed, he can –"

"Looking for me?" The voice suddenly cackled gleefully in my ear. I jumped, frantically looking around until my eyes finally rested on a spot near the ceiling.

"How are you doing that?" I demanded.

"Doing what?" He laughed again. It irritated me, but I ignored it.

"How did you disappear? And why could my hand go through you like that? What are you made of? The other stuff could have made sense, soul-bonded armors, but..." My eyes widened in realization. "An unbound soul, yet somehow remaining in this world? How is that possible? Why didn't you go to the Gate when you died?" To my surprise, the ghost laughed, an eerie cackling sound filling the halls.

"Oh, dear, Eddie. I'm not a ghost. I'm a poltergeist."

"You mean... An artificially created _soul_?" There was a brief flash of a frown on the poltergeist's face before it was replaced by his custom leery grin.

"Now, Eddie, don't be like that! No fun anymore." I scowled, and began walking away. A very confused Alphonse followed. "Hey, shorty! Shorty!"

I managed to restrain my temper until he finally gave up and floated away.

But now came the questions.

"Edward?" His blue eyes were large. "What's the Gate? What exactly happened to you?" I sighed.

"The Gate... It's where people go when they die. An in-between worlds I suppose." I knew I shouldn't be telling him this, but this was _Al_. He'd understand._  
><em>

"Did you die?" My eyes widened at his whispered question. How did he – no, damn it. It was obvious by how I said it. Stupid, stupid!

I tried to keep my face impassive, but he knew. On both sides of the Gate, us brothers were too similar.

"_You died? _How is tat possible? Ed, are you..." He gulped. "Ed, you're not going to leave me again, are you?"

And here was the final confirmation that yes, the world hated me. How was I supposed to tell him that no, I couldn't stay? How was I supposed tot ell im that I had a brother who looked just like him waiting at home? That he wasn't really my brother?

My face said it all.

"Oh." He looked so crushed, so small, so broken. How could I put him through this pain? _How could I tell him?_

We arrived at the tower entrance.

"_What force is more powerful that hate?_" I closed my eyes. An image of Mom. Of Al.

"Love," I managed to choke out, and the door swung open.

Love, because it hurts. Because we who care so much are so, so broken.

I ignored the splendor of the tower view of the grounds, and trudged up to the stairs to the boy's dorms.

"Ed..." I paused at the last step.

"I'm sorry, Al." I walked to my bed and curled into a ball, trying to hide myself from those gentle, blue eyes.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

I couldn't sleep. I knew if I closed my eyes, I would only see my past's mistakes played out before me.

"Al, you awake?" I whispered softly. There was no reply.

I sighed and quietly got up. I took a pencil and some paper from someone's desk, and sat down again. For a moment longer, I stared at the blank white sheet before quickly sketching a transmutation circle. I put the pen on it.

_Here we go_. I put my hands on the edge. To change the ink's color I needed to –

But there was nothing. I couldn't feel the transmutation at all.

Alchemy didn't work.

I sighed, and returned the paper and pen back to the desk. That had ruined my theory that this magic was just an alternate form of alchemy.

So what was it really? Something that could bond souls to objects, allow free-floating souls, _create_ souls... Levitate objects. Something to do with a stick. I didn't know enough.

I sighed again, and looked warily at my bed. I knew I had to get some sleep, but I didn't want to face the nightmares again, to be helpless int heir grip. It had been bad enough living through those moments once.

I looked at Al's soft, sleeping face. He wouldn't mind, would he? When we were kids, we'd sleep next to each other all the time, and even later, I had slept with my face pressed against the cold metal plate that was his body. He was my brother, always would be, and I'd never treat him different because he suffered for my mistake.

Now, I hesitated because this wasn't my brother. This was only a boy who looked and acted like him...

And yet, I still climbed into his bed, and fell asleep next to the warm of his human body. In a way, he was still Al. Still with the soft, forgiving personality that my brother had.

That night, there were no nightmares.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

"Ed, wake up!"

"Just a minute, Al..." I murmured sleepily.

"Come on, Ed. We have to eat."

"Go away." I pulled the blanket closer to me.

"Ed!" Suddenly warm blankets were pulled away, and I groaned at the shock of cold air.

"_Al!_" He was relentless, and began pulling me off the bed. It was either get up, or fall to the floor.

I chose to get up.

"Al, can't you just –" Again, I was struck by the strangeness. Because the person who had woken me up wasn't metal, wasn't the familiar suit of armor that had been beside me every day. This person was flesh and blood. The other Alphonse.

"Ed?" I blinked, and wiped my bleary eyes with my hand.

"S' nothing." I yawned. "Did you mention food?"

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

"You fell asleep in my bed." Alphonse's voice had a wondering quality to it, and I blushed.

"Yeah? So what?" I hoped he wasn't about to make fun of me.

"You know, we haven't done that since we were kids."

"You slept together when you were kids?" An intrusion. I scowled at the boy. Kevin, I think.

"Yup. And Mom would always sing us lullabies before we fell asleep," Al said happily. I choked on the pumpkin juice I had been drinking.

"Al? Is..." Is Mom still alive in this world? "Is our family all right?" Immediately, the table sobered slightly, lost part of it's cheer.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "The war hasn't affected us as badly as some of the others, since we're half bloods." Right, the war... That was why so many others were now looking so sad, so regretful. They must have lost someone.

"What are halfbloods?"

"When one parent is magical, and the other is not. Dad is. None of us really knew until we got our letter to Hogwarts, but Mom seemed to have suspected. Ed, are you sure you don't remember anything?" His voice was so pleading. I looked away.

"No, I don't," I lied. I knew without looking that he would have that crestfallen expression on his face.

For a while, neither of us spoke. We ate slowly and listened to the chatter around us. Kevin was arguing something with Michael. One group was talking about Harry Potter. Then, there was one girl on her own, dreamily talking about narggles.

Finally, Al breached the silence.

"Ed, I need to go to class today." I sat up in the chair, alarmed.

"What? Why?" He laughed softly.

"This is a school, Ed. Hogwarts, remember? It's Monday; I have classes. I'm not sure if you need to go. We should –"

"Can I come with you?" I had forgotten that this was a school. After all, Al and I hadn't attended in years. But this was different. It had something to do with magic.

And I didn't want to be separated from Al, even if he wasn't the same little brother I had grown up with, lived all my life with.

"I don't see why not, but –" He hesitated. "We should ask Professor Flitwick." We looked at the table the teachers were sitting at, all separate from the student's tables, and gulped.

"Why don't we go after breakfast?" I suggested, and Al nodded eagerly.

"That's a good idea."

We returned to our food with renewed determination.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Flitwick looked at us in surprise when we entered his classroom.

"Edward! Alphonse! Good to see you. And right when I needed to see you too. There's a man who wants to see you two. I think he's from the Ministry." What was the Ministry?

"Professor, we just wanted to ask if Ed should go to classes today," Al said hesitantly.

"Well, I'm not sure. Do what you think is best, Alphonse." He checked a clock on the wall. "There are a few more minutes before class begins, would you like me to take you to him?" We looked at each other, both of us with expressions of bewilderment, and then nodded.

"Good." He led us to a small room nearby, and graciously opened the door for us. "He's been staying here. Now, remember that –"

But I wasn't listening anymore.

The man had golden hair, golden eyes.

Hohenheim.

The Bastard was here, on the other side of the Gate.


	8. Phantom Pains

A/N: I changed all the hyphens that should have been dashes to dashes in the previous chapters. Productive, right? It just bothered me. I also put chapter titles within the chapters instead of just being on the chapter scroll list thing. Also cleaned up a few rants that probably should have never been in here in the first place. Well, I don't know. Do you people like reading author's rants? Me just randomly typing things up here for whatever comes to mind?

Oh, and I just started reading Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. This is great. This is wonderful. Just... I'm only on chapter six and still... I love this story. Okay, well, umm... Back to my own fanfiction? This is part of why it's been a few days even though I said I would update almost every day (that hadn't been very likely anyway)

Thanks everybody who reviewed, favorited, or followed. It does mean a lot :)

Hehe looking back at all the author's notes when I wrote "Enjoy!" at the last line... You know what, just enjoy the whole thing. I'll stop sounding like a broken tape record.

"Enjoy!" "Enjoy!" "Enjoy!"...

Right. Ignore me.

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><p><em><strong>Phantom Pains<strong>__  
><em>

* * *

><p>Guilt.<p>

It's something that eats you, withers you away until you're nothing but an empty husk.

I saw it too well now, after living it every day of my life ever since we tried to bring Mom back. Slowly, I was being eaten too. Al had been the only one who saved me from it. Al and his gentle, kind soul.

And it was in Hohenheim's eyes, too, the guilt from stealing other people's lives, hopping from one body to another in order to live longer. A world-weariness that came only from hundreds of years of experience. And a pain so clear, the pain of regret. He had abandoned us, and Mom had died because of it.

His _guilt _(I spat out the word in my mind) didn't stop me from the rising anger, anger from seeing the Bastard's face. My hands were clenched, trembling. My eyes were on his, staring, glaring. Hating.

Why did you leave us? _How are you here?_

He flinched, as if struck by the force of my thoughts.

"Edward? Is that really you?" His eyes flitted to Alphonse. "Has Alphonse –"

"No," I said shortly, still staring.

Why was he looking at us like that? With such love and deep caring?

"Edward, are you _–"_

"You left us," I whispered harshly. I didn't want to hear his words. "You never cared. You always had _Dante_." Again, he flinched.

"Ed, I _–_" I felt the flames grow, fanning them into a blazing inferno. I didn't care that this wasn't reasonable, that maybe he had a reason for everything he had done. I was already taking a large step forward before he had even opened his mouth.

"I don't want to hear your excuses!" I growled, but when I reached him, he managed to stumble out of the chair and miss my fist.

"Ed, what are you doing!?" Alphonse's frantic voice. I ignored him and stood over my bastard of a father, arm pulled back.

"Bastard," I hissed. "You bastard!" I punched the floor next to him. It left a dent.

"Edward..." His serene golden eyes stared at me. Golden hair, golden eyes...

I stumbled backwards, suddenly feeling lightheaded, like this had happened before.

_Arm through my stomach _– so much blood _–___

That's right. I had been sitting over Envy like that right before I had died. My half-brother had killed me.

_Spreading pain from my chest _–__

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to make the dizziness go away. Someone was shaking me by the shoulders.

"Ed? Ed, are you alright!?" Alphonse. I couldn't let him worry.

"M' fine, Al," I mumbled. "Just a bit..." My real foot wobbled alarmingly. "Dizzy..."

I hit the floor, a dull ache echoing in my chest.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Harsh whispers. I recognized the voices. Alphonse and the Bastard.

"Who are you? How do you know Ed?" Pleading.

"Alphonse, I _–"_

"Was is when he disappeared? Were you there?"

"What? He _– _Alphonse, tell me everything."

"I don't even know who you are!" That's right, Al; you tell the bastard...

I sunk back into sleep, the whispers fading into the background...

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

I woke up panting for breath. Another nightmare.

"Al?" My eyes flitted around the room frantically. Searching. Searching for a gleam of metal, the sound of the metallic click of his walking. Nothing.

"Al? Al! Alphonse!" I jumped onto my feet. No... Al wouldn't have left me. Not when we were so _close _and it was more important than ever to stick together _–__  
><em>

No. That wasn't right. We had already been separated...

"Goodness, what is going on here!?" My eyes widened, and I stared at the nurse. Madam Pomfrey. It took me a moment longer to realize where I was.

The hospital wing again. Damn it.

"Why am I here?" I demanded, and she gave a heavy sigh.

"Edward, it's in the middle of the night. _Please_, try not to make so much noise. We all need as much sleep as we can get nowadays." I waited. Another sigh. "You passed out."

"Passed out!?" Why? I hadn't _passed out _since –

There was a throb, and my hand flew to my chest. Had I somehow been injured? Why had I passed out?

My search stopped when my fingers felt the scar tissue through the chest. There. Where Envy had stabbed me.

"Edward?" The nurse was looking at me curiously. I immediately put my hand down again, strangely feeling self-conscious.

"Sorry. You were saying?" She shook her head.

"Would you like a sleeping draft? You seemed like you were having a nightmare."

"A sleeping draft?" My tongue twisted around the word. "Draft." Like a breeze. Or apparently, a kind of medicine. "Thanks."

She smiled and handed me a vial. I immediately downed it and grimaced. Tasted just like Mustang's cooking. All burnt and no flavor. But that would be expected of the Flame Alchemist, wouldn't it?

Suddenly, I felt drowsy and my eyes began to close. No – I didn't want to see that again...

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Someone was screaming.

"MURDER! MURDER IN THE BATHROOM! MURDER!"

It was a nasty way to wake up, but very effective on getting me out of bed. I tugged on my jacket sitting on the table, and ran out of the hospital wing to the source of the screams.

I was met with the sight of blood-stained water pooling out of the bathroom. I stopped cold.

_So much blood, flowing from my chest –_

I shook away the memory and rushed into the room. There was a dark-haired boy, shivering and staring at the red, red crimson blood on the floor.

"Are you okay?" I demanded. He stared at me with large, blank green eyes. "Are you hurt?" I quickly glanced over him. No wounds. So where had all the blood come from?

"I –" My gaze snapped up to his. Horror-struck. Disbelieving. _Guilty_.

He looked down.

"I'm fine." Then a startled look of recognition, and his eyes widened. "_Ed?_" I frowned. How did he know me? I had never –

Of course. The other Edward. He must have known him.

"Ed?" The boy's small voice spoke again. "Ed, you're... You're really back." His eyes spoke bewonderment. "I had heard, but –"

"Matthews, Potter," a sharp voice suddenly came from behind me. It was the hook-nosed man. "Care to explain yourselves?" I gave him an irritated look.

"Hey, I have no idea what's going on." That much was true. I'd been dropped into a world that I knew nothing about, and everybody thought I was someone I wasn't.

"And you decided to investigate and left the hospital wing?" His voice oozed quiet displeasure, and I winced.

"Hey, it wasn't like that! Someone was screaming about murder –"

"You mean me?" I whirled around and saw yet another translucent figure, strange invisible tears running down her face. My eyes widened.

"Are you another artificial soul? Or are you an actual ghost?" Her tears suddenly started flowing with intense vigor and a choked wail came from her throat (?). I was caught even more off guard.

"I – I didn't mean it like that. I –"

"Myrtle." The choking sounds stopped when Snape spoke her name. "Go."

And she immediately left, oddly swooping into a toilet stall. I stared after her.

"What –" I didn't get the chance to finish.

"And you, Matthews," Snape turned onto me, "should still be in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey still doesn't know why you fainted, and it can do hardly any good to run around the school." I glowered at him.

"Did you expect me to just sit still when I thought someone was being _murdered_?" I wonder... "What did happen, anyway?" The man frowned.

"Nothing that would interest you," he said curtly, and I gaped at him.

"_Nothing that would interest me?_" I repeated incredulously. "What about all of this _blood_? You can't tell me that came from nowhere."

"Mr. Matthews –"

"My _name _is Edward," I growled. Both the boy and Severus blinked at me in shock before he finally recovered.

"Very well, _Edward_," he raised an eyebrow at my name, "Potter here just cast a very powerful curse on his classmate, Draco Malfoy. _That _is where the blood is from." My eyes widened, and I looked at the boy.

"You mean... That kid did all of this?"

"I'm not –" the "kid" began angrily. Snape smoothly talked over his protests.

"Yes. Harry Potter. The boy who lived. Ironic, isn't it? That the so-called 'Chosen One' would know such Dark Magic." His voice left no doubt as to what he thought of the title.

Finally, it clicked. Harry Potter. The one Alphonse and the other Ed had been with when his godfather died.

"It wasn't Dark Magic!" We both turned to Harry in surprise. "I just – I just found it in a library book."

"Where?" Even I could tell how his eyes were too wide, how they kept on flitting back and forth wildly. Harry Potter was a bad liar.

"I can't remember what it was called –"

"Liar." Yes, that much was obvious. But what was he lying for?

Something seemed to happen, then. Harry Potter was squirming nervously and Snape was looking into his eyes –

"Oh, damn it." I placed myself in between them and glared at the hook-nosed man. "You were trying to read his mind, weren't you?" He ignored me, instead looking past my at Harry. That irritated the heck out of me.

"Bring me your school bag," he said softly, dangerously, "and all of your school books. _All_ of them. Bring them to me here. Now!" At once, Harry splashed out of the bathroom. Snape turned his cold black eyes to me.

"As for you, _Edward_... Would you care to explain who Van Hohenheim is?"


	9. Like Father Like Son

A/N: JustSomeRandomZak pointed out something in the title: ALternate Identity. Very nice. Thank you for that. :)

Oh no, NaNoWriMo starts in a week... Gotta write this story fast T.T (even though my first deadline already kind of passed)... Umm that may mean way slower updates on other things because what I'm writing for it is not at all Fanfiction (can you even do that?). Anyway, next chapter will be when a lot of things happen. A lot of things. Like, there will actually be action in this story. I think that the way it is I'm just making Ed crazy... That all should be over soon.

Right, right, no ramblings, and on with the story!

* * *

><p><em><strong>Like Father Like Son<strong>_

* * *

><p>- <em>Flashback<em>_ -_

"Van Hohenheim. You had said you were from the Ministry. I have proof that it is not so." Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore wore a tight smile, and his traditional twinkle was diminished. This was serious business, and it involved the safety of two particular students in Hogwarts.

Van Hohenheim, on the other hand, looked like he was having the best day of his life, a smile always tugging at his lips. Today, he had found his sons again.

However, that expression did not bode well for the headmaster of Hogwarts. Hid own face grew more stern as he watched Hohenheim.

"You are correct." Still, the slight twitch of the lips. Dumbledore leaned into the desk, his eyebrows now furrowed.

"And you are willingly admitting this? Why exactly did you want to see the Matthews?" Now, the man's smile faded slightly.

"I need to talk to Edward."

"Why?" He remained silent, and now his face was impassive. Dumbledore sighed.

"Mr. Hohenheim, if you will not answer, I will be forced to take extreme measures. Alphonse has told me about your conversation with Edward, and it looks like you were involved in Edward's kidnapping. This is a serious matter, and involved the safety of a student." Dumbledore carefully watched him for a reaction. There was none, save for the slightest twitch of an eye.

He wondered what that meant.

"Albus Dumbledore," he was surprised to hear the man finally speak, "I came here in order to investigate magic more fully and lend my expertise of alchemy to you. I had not been expecting to see either of them, but now that I have, I can not let them go. I have already abandoned them too many times." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

"Alchemy?" As far as he knew, the last true alchemist had been Nicholas Flamel, and he had personally witnessed his friend's death.

However, the man gave no reply, only blinked slightly at the disbelief and surprise clear in Dumbledore's voice. Once again, the old wizard sighed.

"I'm afraid that is not adequate, Hohenheim. I must know what relation you have to the Matthews." His mouth opened and closed a few times, and a strange expression crossed his face before it finally solidified into a mixture of pride and resolution.

"I'm Edward's father."

Dumbledore almost fell off of his chair.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

"As for you, _Edward_... Would you care to explain who Van Hohenheim is?" I felt the familiar clenching up at the mention of the Bastard's name.

"He's _nothing_," I hissed. "He abandoned us." Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? He claimed that he was your father."

"He lost the right to _that _a longtime ago," I spat angrily. He looked surprised.

"I was under the impression that you already had a father. Allen Matthews, I believe?"

Oh shit.

I decided not to say anything to that.

"Edward Elric," he said musingly, as if trying the name over his tongue. My eyes widened, and I stared at him. How did he knew?

Then I remembered the mind-reading and adverted my eyes (I hated that, that I had to look away from an enemy). What had Al called it? Legilimens?

"Yes," the man said softly, "We know. You're not really Edward Matthews. What happened to him on that night?"

He died, and it was all my fault.

There was a pause.

"I see. I'll inform Alphonse immediately about this."

Everything froze.

"No!" My voice, a half-shout, a half-whisper into the cold silence. "No. Please, _please _don't tell Al. He can't know. He can't know that I'm not –" Once again, my throat caught and I couldn't finish. I closed my eyes. Why, why was I continually put through this hell? To see Al's face, _human_, yet so broken and then know it was all my fault?

"Yes?"

The words came unbidden, whispered sinfully past my lips.

"That I killed his brother."

Silence.

I dared to look at him. His startled, disbelieving expression. His look of shock.

And then finally, his face hardened into the inscrutable, sneering look he usually wore, his voice deadly calm.

"Why did you kill Edward Matthews?"

"I –" _Falling, falling – blood, blood pooling from my chest – _"I died." Yes, that's right. I died, didn't I?

"_What?_"

"I died," I said, more calmly than I felt, "And I couldn't save him." I clapped my hands, and nothing had happened._  
><em>

And yet, Severus Snape could not have been more confused.

"Edward," he said cautiously, "If you died... Then how are you here?" I didn't answer. Why should I? He didn't know anything about me. He might know my name, but he knew _nothing_. All the sacrifices we had made, and –

And I wasn't even sure if Al was alive anymore. All that conviction I had, that I would return someday, and I didn't even know if it was all real. After all, I was still here, wasn't I?

I showed none of this on my face, keeping it controlled and cool even as I felt myself falling apart.

And it was oddly fitting that this should happen here, where such crimson liquid was pooling beneath our feet. The mark of my blood-stained hands. Because all of it, _all of it_, was my fault, and this was simply the manifestation of my sins.

Suddenly, everything seemed to clear. This was my punishment, the punishment to the greatest sinner. I would take it, because I deserved it. I deserved this pain for all what I had done. I deserved whatever punishment that this man would inflict on my for my crime.

So I told him. I told him what I had done.

"It was my fault. I panicked. When I saw Al here, I panicked, and ran away, like the coward I was. Even when he _warned _me, I didn't stop." I remembered his pleading face, and felt sick. "Then, in the forest, I –" _Falling, a _crack – "I fell. There must have been a ravine or _something _I hadn't noticed, and then he died." I looked at him, at his deep black eyes. I was not afraid of punishment. "I killed him."

Now he would give me what I deserved.

"Edward..." Why did he have that hesitation? "Are you telling me that Matthews was with you when you... fell?" For a moment, I stared at him. What was wrong with him? Didn't he realize –

Then it occurred to me, and I gave a harsh, bitter laugh.

"Of course! You don't know." My smile fell. "You don't know anything. You have all these soul-bonded objects, _un_bound souls, even _artifically-created _souls, and you don't even know what it means!"

No, I had been wrong. It had been possible for Severus to become more confused.

"What are you talking about?" I groaned. No, no...

"The Gate! You have to know about it! This all wouldn't be possible if you didn't!" And I silently added, even as I recognized the self-delusion in it, _And if you don't, then how am I going to get back home to Al?_

"The Gate?" Snape repeated slowly, and I nodded eagerly. Maybe he did know...

"I haven't heard of it."

And with those words, my hopes came crashing back down. But maybe... Just maybe... There would be _somebody _here who knew something –

Then it occured to me.

"Hohenheim!" I shouted, and the other man stared at me.

"Your father?"

"Yes, him! Where is he?" However, Snape's face darkened at the name.

"He –" Before he could tell me, the door burst open, and Harry Potter wildly flung himself into the bathroom, carrying his school bag in one hand. He winced at the sight of the blood, then wordlessly handed his books to Snape at the adult's open hand. After a moment's awkward pause, he turned to me.

"Ed? How come you're still here?" His eyes widened in sympathy. "Did I get you into trouble?"

"No," I snapped. What had Snape been about to say about Hohenheim?

"Potter," Snape suddenly said, looking up from his thorough examination of Harry's school bag. He held up a book. "Is this your copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_?" Harry visibly gulped.

"Yes." His voice was shaky. Too obvious.

"You're quite sure of that, are you, Potter?"

"Yes," he said, this time more firmly. Snape frowned.

"Then why," he asked, drawing it out for effect, "does it have the name 'Roonil Wazlib' written inside the front cover?"

Harry wasn't going to make it out of this one.

"That's my nickname." Even I could do better.

"Your nickname." Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah... That's what my friends call me." Definitely a bad liar.

"I understand what a nickname is." There was a long pause before Snape finally said in a deadly whisper, "Do you know what I think, Potter?" He didn't bother waiting for an answer. "I think that you are a liar and a cheat and that you deserve detention with me every Saturday until the end of term. What do you think, Potter?" Harry's eyes flickered to me beseechingly, but I ignored them. I didn't know him. And didn't he realize that _he _was why there was all this blood on the floor?

"I – I don't agree, sir," he stammered, and I stared at him. Why? This was his punishment for the wrong that he had done.

"Well, we shall see how you feel after your detentions. Ten o'clock Saturday morning, Potter. My office." Now I turned my flabbergasted gaze to Snape. Was he _enjoying _this?

"But sir..." Harry Potter made his last feeble protest. "Quidditch... the last match of the..."

"Ten o'clock." Now Snape _smiled_. "Poor Gryffindor... forth place, this year, I fear..." He turned to walk out of the bathroom, but stopped for me.

"Edward, come with me." I stood my ground, glancing between the two.

"_Edward –_" I glowered at him.

"No. I'm not going with you until you tell me what the hell is going on! A student almost just _died_, and you two are just playing some pretty game of revenge. And you – you still haven't told me anything about Hohenheim!"His lip curled in displeasure.

"Hohenheim left. We were unable to detain him after he... found us unable to suit his needs."

"He left?" I said incredulously. "Damn it! Right when I needed him to answer some questions." I cursed again. "What did he want with you?"

"Who's Hohenheim?" Harry Potter asked, and we turned startled glanced at him. I had almost forgotten about it.

"None of your business," I snapped, scowling, and he bore a sudden hurt expression. Then I remembered. Alphonse and the other Ed had known him...

"Sorry." His sudden hopeful expression made me wary again. "It's still none of your business." Now the hurt was back. Damn it, what did it take to pacify this kid? I already said I was sorry.

"Edward." Snape's voice held quiet amusement that only made me more irritated.

"_What?_"

"I'd prefer to not discuss this where unwelcome ears could hear." He gestured towards Harry, and this time, I reluctantly followed him out.

"What do you have against him anyway?" I asked.

"I was not aware that this is my interrogation, Edward. I still don't understand how Matthews died." Suddenly, I felt so, so tired.

"I told you. We fell." And since you don't know about the Gate, I don't have a reason to tell you anything more.

"And this is your fault how?" He let the question hang in the air, but I didn't bother replying. He seemed to realize that asking again wouldn't give him any answers.

"Why do you care so much about Alphonse?" he now asked. I shook my head.

"You wouldn't understand." He raised an eyebrow, but I knew it was true. He didn't about the Gate. Nothing about the other worlds and the dopplegangers within them. Hell, even I wasn't sure how I felt about this Alphonse, who looked so much like my Al, acted so much like him, yet wasn't him.

"Edward... If you were with Matthews when he died, then where were you that whole week?" I froze.

"A week?" I echoed. Now that I thought about it, Al had said something like that, but... "That can't be right. It was only within the same day when Envy –"

_Stabbed me through the heart_. I shuddered.

"Envy?"

"Yeah, Envy," I said distractedly. "He's the one that killed me. But it doesn't make any sense! It had only been a few hours for me, so –" Then I realized. "Of course! Time must pass differently for each world. Here it's faster... Or... Could it be in flux? Maybe if there's an energy imbalance –" I frowned. "No, that doesn't make any sense. What would cause that anyway? Al? You got any –" I stopped when I realized the person next to me was Snape, not the familiar suit of armor I had discussed theories with long ago. "Sorry."

"Edward..." the man said slowly, "You said that you had died from falling, and now you're claiming that someone killed you. Not to mention that if you had died at all, you shouldn't still be here." I gave him a weak smile. That was exactly my problem.

"I don't know why I'm alive either." He seemed to chew on that, his face turning thoughtful.

"I will inform Dumbledore of these complications, Edward," he finally said. "But it is up to you to tell Alphonse. Do not wait too long." With a swish of his cloak, he left.

I couldn't find it in myself to feel relief at the words. If he knew, why didn't he punish me? Why didn't he try harder to learn more?

I didn't know that it had only been because at that moment, I was only one small thing in the entire world that was going wrong.


	10. The End

A/N: Despite the title, this is not The End. I wish it were April Fools and I could just leave it like that. Anyway, I did kind of lie in the other author's note. There is no action in this chapter. It hints at it, but no real action. I think it worked better this way. Later, maybe? And yes, there would be a later. Definitely a later. This would be such a terrible ending...

Now I'm typing it up and almost laughing at how overly dramatic it is. Sorry, I can't ever take my own stuff seriously. Please try to take this seriously. Please.

Ehm... Anyway, this is one of the last few things I have planned for this story. There is a bit more, like what happens in the next chapter and the basic plot for the rest of it, but other than that, I have nothing. I actually haven't even thought about the actual ending too much, even though that's usually one of the first things I plan (oddly enough, since I never usually get there either). Anyway, happy ending or sad ending? To what extreme? I may not agree with you, but any ideas are welcome.

The tape recorder will not speak here, but the message is still the same. ("Enjoy!")

* * *

><p><em><strong>The End<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Al, I need to tell you something." They were words I had spoken before. Words Al had assured me later were not necessary.<p>

"What is it?" His deeper voice was laced with sleepiness. I stared at the ceiling. It couldn't hurt to wait until morning, could it?

"It's nothing, Al."

"'Kay." A pause. "G' night, Ed." I smiled.

"Good night, Al."

I didn't get very much sleep that night.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

The days passed in hazy indecision. I couldn't gather up the courage to tell him that his brother was dead. That I had killed him. However, Alphonse had, of course, noticed the odd looks I had been giving him.

"Ed... If you have to go again, we just have to live out life to the fullest now!"

It only cut deeper. He didn't know. I couldn't tell him.

And now, it was too late. Something had happened, and I couldn't find him in the mindless panic of the other students.

Apparently, the Death Eaters were attacking. There was a symbol in the shape of a skull above the castle. Somebody had died, the other Ravenclaws told me.

And if it was Alphonse, even this world's Alphonse, I couldn't live with myself.

"Al!" I called out, panicked as I rushed through the seemingly-endless corridors. "Alphonse! Where are you?"

There was no reply from him, and the few remaining students in the halls were giving me sympathetic looks.

"Hey, Ed!" one of them called. I ran over to him.

"Do you know where Al is?" I asked frantically. "He's not in the dorms and I can't –"

"Hey, easy there." Dimly, I recognized him as one of the prefects. What did it matter anyway? "Al told me that you'd go looking for him. He asked if I'd keep you safe."

No... Damn it, Al, don't you ever understand? _I'm _the older brother. _I'm _supposed to protect _you_!

"Where is he?" I demanded.

"He said to –"

"I don't care what he said!" I snarled. "Just tell me where he is!" The prefect's face paled.

"Are you sure –"

"Yes, damn it!" He gulped.

"He joined the fighting, near the observatory –" I cursed and ran off before he could finish.

Why didn't he ever listen to me? Didn't he know by now not to run off without me?

Stupid little brothers. They never had any common sense. I just hoped he was still alive.

After a few minute's sprint, I finally reached the sounds of fighting. It must have been one of the oddest sights I'd seen: people yelling at each other without any fists flying, instead bolts of light blasting from sticks held in their hands. But that didn't matter, didn't matter because I saw Al, and he was fine, he was unhurt, he was alive. He was fighting, own stick in hand and brow furrowed furiously, but _he was alive_._  
><em>

I didn't have time to marvel at it. I shouldn't have wasted the time. But I did. And so when I saw a red bolt coming straight at me, I didn't dodge, I didn't move, I didn't do anything, except stare at it stupidly when it approached.

A few moments later, there was a _thump_, and the sound of a body hitting the floor.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Someone was calling my name.

"Ed!" I heard it, through muted walls. Then a curse. And fuzzily, a piece of wood in my face.

"_Renneverate!_"

Suddenly, everything cleared. I could see, in fuzzy precision that was a million times better than nothing, the worried contours of Alphonse's face. His face? Why was he –

"Al?" No, that didn't make sense. Al wasn't – he wasn't – "You're human?"

"Ed? Are you okay?"

Now it all came rushing back. His deeper voice. Blue, blue eyes. Not Al, but... Alphonse.

"M' fine," I croaked. My throat was oddly dry.

Then I felt the full force of a human hand slapped across my face at top speed. It took a moment to register. Had Alphonse just –

"You idiot!" he yelled, and I realized that yes, he had. "Why didn't you stay with the other Ravenclaws?"

"Al, I –" I tried to tell him I was sorry, but he wouldn't listen.

"You're lucky it was only Ginny's curse that hit you," he said fervently. "Anything worse and you'd be dead – or worse! Ed, you don't know anything right now! And I – I can't lose you again." He was now sobbing into my shirt. "You said that – that you have to go, but I – I don't want you to! Brother, I –"

"Al..." I felt so helpless again. Always so helpless.

"No. Don't say anything." He wiped away his tears. "Stay here. I'll be back soon." And he ran off to rejoin the fighting. I stared after him for a moment before getting on my own two, mismatched feet.

Damn it, Alphonse, if you think I'd let you fight alone, you don't know me at all. I know I'm not really your brother, but you're still Alphonse, and I'll _always _protect you.

I charged into the fray.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

...

How did this happen?

Time and time again, it always ends up this way.

Me dying. Alphonse crying my name.

I didn't know enough, that was why. I had always just been an ignorant human, always thinking that I knew so much. So arrogant. And this is the price I must pay.

I hadn't known to dodge the bright flash of light. I hadn't known what it meant. Now I was bleeding out on the floor, blood bursting out of mybody.

_Like that bathroom floor..._

I saw Alphonse's face, wet with blood and water.

"Sorry, Alphonse," I whispered, even as blood pooled around me. "I killed your brother."

I didn't see his shock, the insurmountable confusion that was on his face. I was already at the realm of the Gate, milky yellow all around me.

The Gate was waiting.


	11. Switched

A/N: Whoo, just came back from Quidditch practice! Muggle Quidditch is fun, although in the middle of practice I discovered that I was accidentally playing left handed and holding the broom with my right hand. Woops.

Hehe anyway, that last chapter was not the end. After all, this chapter is coming out, right? The author's notes tell you everything you need to know! About my personal life and Quidditch playing, my rants if I haven't deleted them, and best of all... (wait let me come up with something to put after this)... Umm... You can learn that when I title a chapter "The End" it isn't really the end? Well, it might be, but to be sure, check the author's note! Plus there's that little thing that says if a story is completed or not. Trust me, if I finish a story, I will gladly select completed. It's like... check marking an empty box. You just need the satisfaction of filling that empty space, and knowing its done. (Yeah, that's absolutely the reason I'm writing this story. So I can have a "complete" story finally)

Now, after advertising the benefits of reading author's notes, this author note will now include some information and a request! Request first: I want ideas. Happy ending, sad ending, whatever. I might not do it, but any ideas are welcome. I kind of know what I'm doing, but I don't know where I want it to go, and if I don't know where I want it to go, it will be pretty bad. I might just on a whim chose the "And then they all died" thing, but that's not likely. Or... the "And then they all lived happily ever after." Unfortunately, both are very unlikely. So is the "Let's do what the movie did!" thing. So I don't know what to do yet about that.

The information thing: The spell at the end was _sectumsempra_. I figured that the other Death eaters might know it, and it was really dramatic. Seriously though, if I was reading this, I wouldn't be laughing. I'd probably feel very, very depressed if my writing is worth anything. As the writer however, I am laughing. That's what I do. Like even the cover for this story... In the middle of drawing it, I thought "Someone must have given Ed milk." Yup, that's where that horrified expression comes from. I just... cant... take my own stuff seriously...

We get some third person in here. Lots of it. Ed is not dead, because of Alphonse's interference. I'm saying it's not a huge coincidence thing that Al happened to open the Gate (by the way, his side is basically whatever he's doing the movie, except with minor differences to account for that it is the Wizarding World and not the Germans interfering) at the same time, I am calling time flux in! Yes, it is time flux. Time flux also is the reason why Al is going to be about the same age as in the movie (maybe a bit younger), and for Ed, not that much time has passed at all. Here's a hint, guys, when author's choose to have characters theorize stuff about time or whatnot, their theories are either absolutely right and used to explain stuff to the audience, or they're dead wrong. It's up to you to figure that out. Or... You could read author's notes and know right away! Yipee!

Hey, hey time flux. Who's the older brother? Ed (15) or Al (16 mentally with memories, 12 in body)? Okay, I'll stop talking now.

The tape recorder plays in the background. (And now I'm getting repetitive with this...)

* * *

><p><em><strong>Switched<strong>_

* * *

><p>- <em>At the Gate -<em>

Once again, I stood before the Gate. I had died again, and this time, I wouldn't be coming back. I felt the peace wash over me again, welcoming me to the knowledge that yes, this truly was the end.

The end, huh. All these times we fought and fought, and what was it all for? I still wasn't sure if Al was alive. If –

The peace, the eerie calm was suddenly broken by the Gate opening.

Was this death? No, that couldn't be right. This wasn't the calm of death I had felt before; this was... This was...

"Al?" I _saw _him. Not Alphonse Matthews, no, there were subtle differences: his darker hair, warm hazel eyes.

And they widened when they saw me.

"Brother?" His voice. I really was...

No. This couldn't be right. I had died. Al couldn't be here, _couldn't_, because that would me...

"Al! What did you do!?" I asked frantically. His eyes widened further.

"Brother, I –" I didn't get to hear the rest. I didn't know what Al did, why he was at the Gate –

Because then I was suddenly being hurtled through the open doors, being pulled through inky blackness and golden light.

"Al!" I called, once final time. "Alphonse!"

There was no answer.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

_- In the observatory tower -_

Alfons Matthews didn't know what to think.

They were in the middle of a war, hexes and all kinds of curses being cast near him. He should move. He should fight with his friends.

But he couldn't tear his eyes away from his brother's dead, bloody body.

...

His brother?

Even as he stared at his wide-open, blank golden eyes, _his_ golden hair, the shadows of doubt crept in.

What had he said? "I killed your brother"?

No. No. That couldn't be true. It was impossible. He was Ed. His brother. Alfons knew that.

And yet, Ed had been acting so strangely. He didn't know about magic, but he knew so much about other things, like science. Was it possible that he never had been his brother after all?

"Alfons!" A voice yelled, waking him from his reverie. It was Ginny. "Get out of here! We got this covered!"

"But –" he began to protest feebly.

"You cant – _protego! __– _do anything like that!" He nodded mutely and scrambled to his feet. Ginny was right. He was worse than useless. He couldn't_ think_, do anything, because all what was on his mind was his dead, dead brother.

He lurched around the corner into a small side corridor. How had this happened? _Why? _He had only just found him again –

The tears flowed easy once again, blurring his vision. Why, _why? _It was unfair! Both of them had been inseperable for all their lives, it was too cruel for it to end now. Not when – Not when he had only just found him again.

Alfons risked a glance around the corner, a last look at _him_. Maybe... Maybe he had been wrong. Maybe Ed really was alive. Alfons let himself feel that trecherous flicker of hope, even as he _knew _it wouldn't be. He had seen him die, take his last, final breath.

But what he saw he had neither been expecting or hoping.

The fighting had stopped. A giant gate, embossed with a large image of an eye on the doors, carved human shapes climbing its frame, stood grandly in the center of the room. And Ed's body was gone.

In his place, stood another boy. A boy with brown hair and hazel eyes.

A boy who looked exactly like Alfons.

Suddenly, he found himself stepping into the open, back into the room that had been filled with chaos only moments earlier. Now there was a more eerie kind of chaos: within every person, wondering at the boy and the now-fading gate that lay in front of them.

Said boy was was not at all aware of this. He looked dazed, not even glancing around to ascertain where he was.

"Brother..." he whispered, and Alfons felt a tingle of foreboding. It seemed odd that he would call for his brother so soon after Alfons' own brother (Again, he felt the momentary doubt, but that couldn't be possible, it just _couldn't_) had died...

"_It's over, time to go!_" A shout into the silence. The patter of footsteps running, running.

Professor Snape came into view. And suddenly, as one, all the Death Eaters began to move.

It was as if time unfroze. Everybody immediately pulled their wands out, shouting hexes at each other again. And one unknown boy was in the center of it, now staring at the bolts of light being cast all over the corridor. At the Death Eaters that were escaping, getting further and further away by every second. At the children shouting furiously with sticks in their hands.

Alfons made his way to the boy, casting occasional _protego _spells and other hexes. There wasn't something about him, something about the way he had appeared and Ed's body disappeared, how he looked so much like Alfons, how he had said "Brother" with so much heartbreak...

He reached the darker-haired boy and pulled him behind a _protego _spell he had to cast in a hurry. It was a miracle the boy wasn't already dead. No, everything was already so surreal, what was this one more small miracle in comparison?

Now, Alfons was casting spell after spell, protecting them both. The onslaught was finally thinning, but he couldn't let his guard down.

But it was thinning, and that meant that –

The Death Eaters were getting away.

It was boiling acid settling deep into his stomach, that sour thought. The Death Eaters had attacked the school – for what? The dark mark had been cast into the sky; someone must have died. And if the Death Eaters were leaving, that meant they had accomplished whatever they had come for, and the students of Dumbledore's Army had failed.

He remembered Snape's words: "It's over, time to go!" Was he part of it too? Had the potions teacher been one of the enemy all along?

Now, it didn't matter. The Death Eaters were all gone, the students breathing heavily and wand hands down. Alfons watched at the last of them turned to run, cloak swishing behind him. A couple of the other DA members chased after them, and others climbed the observatory stairs to find out what had been going on up there.

"Where am I?" The boy suddenly said, almost too calm and steady. Alfons turned to stare at him.

"You don't know?" Alfons asked cautiously. Yet there was something else niggling in the back of his mind... Something about the boy's voice... It seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Have you seen someone near?" that oddly familiar voice was now asking, hope infused in it, and Alfons reluctantly turned away from his thoughts. "A bit short, long blonde hair pulled into a braid or ponytail?" For a moment, Alfons only stared at him. How did he know about the long hair?

"You mean Ed?" he asked slowly. The other boy's eyes brightened.

"Is he here? I saw him at the Gate so I was worried –"

"He's dead." The words echoed over and over in Alfons' own mind even as he spoke them. Denial along with them, yet knowing it was the certain truth.

"He's dead?" His voice was small and broken. "Brother's dead?" Brother? But before he could ask, a look of determination entered the boy's eyes. "No. He can't be dead. I _saw _him. I can't give up now."

"You – You saw him?" Again, that treacherous hope reappeared.

"At the Gate. But... That could mean anything." The boy frowned and looked around the corridor, finally taking note of the disheveled room and kids holding sticks. "Where am I? Who are you anyway?" Alfons was taken aback by the change of subject. What happened to his brother?

He opened his mouth to argue, but suddenly the boy fell into a half-bow and held out his hand.

"I'm Alphonse Elric, Ed's brother. Pleased to meet you."

Alfons couldn't think of a way to respond.


	12. Back Home

A/N: Happy Halloween! Sorry, no Halloween-themed chapter, this is following more of a set course. Time travel though is spooky, right? We also got lots of blood and aged cathedrals... Hmm... Maybe it is Halloween themed...

So, I'm doing what so many evil authors do and switching points of view once I ended the last chapter on a cliffhanger. This one ends in a kind of similar way, in that kind of shocked realization thing after a reveal to a character. Yeah, it's an Ed chapter, and I'm pretty sure you can figure out what happens from this author's note (I also kind of realized how parallel Ed's situation is on the two worlds to the other characters, they all think Ed's disappeared...). It's kind of shortish in what happens, more about Ed's thoughts and stuff. But! We do have an outtake. So you can enjoy that afterwards, and hopefully laugh. Laugh hard. That's an order, right now. But wait until you actually get until the outtake, alright? Only I am allowed to laugh at my own story when it's not supposed to be funny.

You are perfectly free to laugh at this author's note. In fact, go ahead.

Anyway, I reached an important point in this story: my composition notebook has passed that exact center point that holds all the pages together! There are some parts that were later rewritten and two pages of filler since I accidentally skipped some, but for the rest, that's all writing for this story! That's three weeks of hard work right there, and I'm proud of it. (And then NaNoWriMo 50,000 words in 4 weeks... Ouch, my writing speed isn't _quite _there yet lol)

By the way, this is not EdWin. I do not do pairings, I do not do romance, and if I ever tried it would be so terrible I would just never have tried it in the first place (time travel, obviously). However, after this story ends, your imagination will be completely up to yourselves.

Oh! And on that note, I have decided how this story will end. It will neither follow the movie, be overly happy, or overly sad. It will be amazing. And that's all I am telling you here.

Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapters, it was really nice to read and reply to all of those :)

Enjoy! (Whoops, the tape recorder spoke yet again)

* * *

><p><em><strong>Back Home<strong>_

* * *

><p>Blood.<p>

I knew the feel of it, the nasty stench, the metallic tang in my mouth, all too well.

And it was all around me.

I scrambled to my feet, red liquid dripping off of my clothes. I slipped, and then wildly backpedalled away, _away _from this sticky red liquid I had hoped to never see again.

What had happened?

But even as I asked myself, I knew. The Gate. Al had been there, and now...

Now I was in the underground city. Where it had all begun, and there was blood covering the hard ground. I could see the faint hints of a transmutation circle etched into the stone beneath.

What had Al done? What caused all of this blood?

The only thing that reassured me was that his body was nowhere to be seen. So Al must've been taken across the Gate like I had been...

Cautiously, I rounded the room, trying to see underneath the blood to the transmutation circle. After a few moments, I had a rough sketch of what Al had been trying to do.

It was related to the human transmutation circle, that much was clear. However, it was different in subtler ways: the lack of any actual transmutation, and a connection to common gene sequences within _our _family. When we tried to bring Mom back, we had studied our own DNA enough for me to recognize it now. I knew, just by looking at the circle, that this was used to open the Gate to a particular person. Me.

However, it shouldn't have been able to work. There wasn't enough of an impulsion... A reaction that would give the final _push _to get through the Gate. Usually, human transmutation did the trick, but...

Then I realized. All of the blood. And _I had died_.

So someone else must have died here for me.

I felt sick. I was a monster. I knew that. And this was another death on my already blood-drenched hands.

But who? Who had died for me this time? And who (my mind desperately tried to deny it even as it occurred to me) had Al sacrificed trying to bring me back?

...

Gentle Al killing somebody...

I couldn't take it. My mind shied away from it, shutting out the image by stopping entirely. Cutting out that cruel, cruel image.

I staggered away from the scene and slowly climbed up the steps that would take me back to Central. I didn't need this, to drown int he foul stench of blood and memories. I had memorized the transmutation circle; I needed to do my research somewhere else.

I emerged into the lighter cathedral air. Here, the horror and guilt weighed less heavy, and I felt like I could breath again. It was safe, clean air, uncorrupted by our sins. I leaned heavily against the wall for a moment, taking in every detail of the place. Just like I had come here the first time, when I had come to confront who I thought would be my father.

However, the cathedral seemed more... aged. It was in subtle things only: the gathering of dust in corners despite having been cleaned, the wood slightly more toned, and the painted windows more lackluster in color.

It left me confused. I had been gone for only a few weeks, and if time was proportionally related across the Gate, it should've been even less time here...

I sighed and made my way out of the building. There was no using thinking about it now; there were more important things to worry about. How could I reverse the transmutation without any sacrifices? _Who _had already died for me?

I winced when bright sunlight hit my eyes and waited for my sight to return. Yup, this was definitely Central; I could already hear the busy streets and fresh smell of bread baking down the alley. Home sweet home.

The only problem was that Al wasn't here with me. Yet inexplicably, the image of the _other _Al's face flashed in my mind, his tears as he cried over my dying body. Was he all right? There had been a war going on, and –

And my Al was probably there too.

I had to get back to them. Both of them. Because Alphonse (for a moment, the two blended together) was my little brother, and damn it, it was my job to protect them.

... And fine job of that I've been doing so far. Al had been the one who had protected _me_ all the time, even in the other world. We had to keep on moving, to keep on moving so that we could achieve our goal, but I –

"Edward?" It was her voice, a voice a I hadn't heard in what seemed to be so long. I stared at her, at her face, at her hands that had performed countless maintenance and repairs of my automail.

"Winry?" And there, right next to her, was Schezka.

Suddenly, two arms were flung around me, warm tears pressed against my cheek. My mind froze for a moment. Was Winry... hugging me?

"Ed! You're back!" She pulled away from me, and I felt a light blush tint my cheeks pink. Winry had just _hugged _me._  
><em>

Damn hormones. Winry was just our childhood friend. Nothing more than that. Somehow, I managed to get my wandering mind under control and return my attention to her words, not the hug she had just given me.

"– worried Al wouldn't bring you back, he –" Now, it was easy. Al's name drove all other thoughts from my mind.

"Al?" I remembered all the blood. Me crossing the Gate. "Do you know what he did?" I asked urgently. Her joyous face turned into puzzled confusement.

"What do you mean? Isn't he with you?" Her eyes widened in worry as they flitted past me. "Ed, what happened to Al?"

"I don't know!" And it was killing me. I assumed that he switched places with me across the Gate, but I couldn't be sure. "Winry, do you _anything_? What he was planning or..." I trailed off at her sadly shaking her head.

"All I know was that he and Wrath suddenly left Risembool. We came here because we thought Al might have found a way to bring you back..." Schezka nodded fervently behind her, but I was alarmed.

"Wrath? Teacher's kid? What was he doing in Risembool?" She hesitated.

"Well... After he lost his arm and leg, we made him automail. After that, he disappeared until he came back and left with Al." I cursed, and she looked surprised at my vehemence.

Once again, that dawning sense of horror when everything clicked together. _Wrath _had died for me. There had been no body; homunculi returned to the Gate when they died. But there was still something missing...

I thought back to what Winry said, and realized the problem.

"Hey, Winry," I started slowly, "If Wrath only recently got his automail, how'd he get all the way to Central?" Winry looked startled.

"What do you mean, Ed? Wrath got his automail two years ago, right after you disappeared..."

My mind froze again after that.

Two years ago?

* * *

><p><span>Outtake<span>

_A/N: I asked my friend for ideas (she has not watched FMA), and this was somehow born. Insert instead of this whole chapter and obviously this story will still make tons of sense. Involved Doctor Who. By the way, that was actually my first line when I tried writing this chapter the first time, but it reaaaaaaaally didn't work. Obviously. Well, have an awesome life and have lots of sugar and... A pack of skittles and an airhead shouldn't make me like this. Seriously. Maybe I've just been deprived of sugar recently. Or I've always been like this. Hm... That sounds likely. Rambling all the time, rambling about my own rambling, and even now, rambling about rambling about my own rambling, and... Yeah, I'll stop now. Awesome life, all that, laugh a lot and... Happy Halloween!_

I must've been hit by a train. Or hugged by Major Armstrong.

I groaned. Yup, Armstrong definitely must've decided to go on a hugging spree. I felt like my ribs were cracked.

I opened my eyes. Where was I anyway?

The answer was simple. Nowhere. In the literal sense.

I was lying in blackness. All what I could see was my silver, oddly glowing pocketwatch.

It opened.

And I discovered that I was really a Time Lord.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂  
>(sort of separate outtake thing)<p>

_The Alchemist_

The universe's knowledge flooded back to me. The Time Lords. Space and time, the big ball of timey-wimey wibbly-wobbly ball of... stuff.

Yes, that was it. Everything made sense now.


	13. Thunderstruck

A/N: So... I was reading back through my earlier chapters. Yeah, I need to revise this story once I'm done, so that it's more together and stuff. Also, there's a bunch of typos. Ouch.

And NaNoWriMo started... I'm behind. Wasn't this story supposed to be done already? Like... last week? What's happening? I have no idea. Sorry, got writer's block kind of. (But now I'm ahead because I actually almost wrote out all of the next chapter too... But this story's almost over. Two chapters to go? Three? Again, not sure.) And NaNoWriMo... Ugh I don't know what to do! (Can I just use this story?)

So... Somehow during the midst of this madness this fanfiction became blood-themed. Beware of all mentions of blood and _sectumsempra_. It is now very important, and everything makes sense to me once again. I got excited about this afterwards (Seriously, you should read some of the stuff I put on DeviantART... And I don't even put all the creepy stuff up there. My friend and I just do these things together... We get excited about creepy stuff. So yeah.)... Ehm.

By the way... blog . granneman 2008 / 12 / 08 / how-it-feels-to-drown-get-decapitated-get-electrocuted-and-more/ You obviously want to check this out :) (Has nothing to do with my stuff, just something interesting)

* * *

><p><strong><em>Thunderstruck<em>**

* * *

><p>"Two years..." I whispered in shock. I struggled to comprehend it. I had been gone for two years. <em>Al<em> had been without me for two years.

"Did you think –" I gulped. "Did you think I was dead?" Winry's eyes turned sad.

"Al was the only one who didn't give up hope. But when that transmutation circle suddenly appeared when he was in Liore, he must've thought that it was you, trying to get back." Shezka, so quite before, spoke up.

"I heard that there was an earthquake when it happened. And..." She hesitated. "Blood."

"Blood?" I repeated dizzily. I remembered the city floor. Was there more to it than I had thought? "It came _from _the transmutation circle?" Shezka nodded grimly, and Winry looked horrified.

"What happened Ed? Do you know anything?" I frowned and shook my head.

"I need to do some research and figure out how to get back to Al. Winry..." I needed to get to the Central library, but first... "What happened to Mustang? Did he win?" Last I had heard, he had been going to fight the Fuhrer.

But her face brightened, and I knew it was all right.

"He won. The military isn't ruling at all anymore. A council now presides over the country. But Mustang..." Her face fell, and I felt the anxiety build again. What had happened to him? "He's somewhere up North."

"North?" I asked incredulously. I couldn't help it; the pit of anxiety had suddenly burst, replaced by a mix of joy, confusion, and worry. "What's he doing up North?" But they only held up their hands helplessly. I growled.

"That stupid bastard," I muttered angrily. "What the hell's he trying to do?" I looked back at Shezka. "Are you still working in Central? Think you can get me access to the library?" If the Colonel wasn't here...

"I – uh..." She stammered, and I grinned viciously. She'd be able to do it.

"Great. Then everything's set."

And I'd be able to get back to Al.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

All of the blood was gone.

It was one of the first things Al had noticed. He should've been covered in it. Because there had been so much blood spilling from Wrath's small body held in Gluttony's mouth...

And yet, despite the horror he felt, one thing triumphed above all.

His memories were back.

He now remembered the lonely nights as he waited in his hollow, cold shell. He remembered being unable to feel the warmth of Brother's hand, to not be able to taste and smell the undoubtedly delicious foods. Yet, he also remembered Ed's smile, the joy in his face at the sight of the metal suit of armor that was his brother. He remembered all the journeys, the joys, and the sadness they had experienced _together_.

It felt like Al was one step closer to his brother, to finally finding him again and be once again the Elric brothers, like they should've always been. To no longer be seperated and be together...

It was his dream, and soon, he promised, _soon_, it would come true. He wouldn't give up now, he wouldn't, not even if...

He remembered the other boy with Al's same face telling his so firmly "He's dead." And also the same boy's hope when Al told him that he had seen Ed.

Who was he?Al looked at him, the boy who shared his face, with the same features yet more aged, blue eyes instead of hazel brown, lighter hair opposed to Al's darker. It didn't make any sense.

So he had asked him who he was. And when he made no coherent response, Al introduced himself instead, giving a polite half-bow as was custom.

"I'm Alphonse Elric, Ed's brother. Pleased to meet you." The look of shock on the other boy's face confused Al further. Had he said anything wrong?

No... There was nothing except...

He looked so similar to Al. And he knew that he was on the other side of the Gate. If all of these "worlds" were connected, and they were "parallel" (Just like in those fantasy books) rather than separate, he could assume...

"Who are you?" Al asked again. The other boy blinked, as if he were suddenly brought back to reality with the question.

"Alfons Matthews." Then he added, almost as a challenge, "Ed's brother."

...

What?

Al's mind raced to process this, assimilate it into his theory. If there really were parallel worlds, and "Alfons" was essentially the same person as him, there must be an alternate Ed too, who was this boy's brother...

His eyes widened as he realized. Brother might not have been here at all. Had the trail Al followed been left by a boy who only shared Ed's DNA? Had Wrath died for nothing?

It was all wrong. Terribly wrong. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. No one was supposed to have died...

His memories flashed through his head like rampaging thunder. Nina. Hughes. Marta. The soldiers in Liore who had made up the philosopher's stone... So many had already died for them.

Al's hands shook when he grabbed Alfons' shoulder. That all couldn't be for nothing. It just couldn't...

"Did you see his right arm? Was it metal?" No, that was the wrong question to ask. Ed should've had his arm and leg back. Or should he? Al wasn't sure. There were too many memories flashing through his mind, the ones he needed dancing tauntingly out of reach.

But it must've been the right question, because the other boy answer.

"Yes. How – How do you know that?"

It was the answer Al needed to hear, and he sighed with relief. All the tension and energy suddenly drained from him, and he collapsed to his knees.

"So he really was here..." Al gave the other boy a weak smile.

It wasn't all for nothing. Brother had been here.

It still didn't make the guilt any less.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

"So he really was here..." the boy who shared the same name and face as Alfons said. Again, that tingle of foreboding. What did this boy know that he didn't?

"What are you talking about?" But he had an itching sense that he already knew...

"I'm sorry." Why, why was he sorry? Why did Alfons always keep on hearing those two words? "The person who was here before, he's – he's my brother. Edward Elric." Not Edward Matthews, was the implication.

It took a moment. A moment to figure out what he meant. And then...

And then the world came crashing down.

Alfons knew. He finally knew the truth.

His brother was dead. He had been, even since he disappeared all those weeks ago...

What had he said? "I killed your brother"?

And Alfons had thought he was _him_...

Suddenly he found himself sobbing on the ground next to the other boy. He wanted to be angry, to shout and scream, to _hate _the person who had tricked him for so long. But he couldn't He couldn't because he _knew_, also, the Edward who he had brought back to the castle that day. His guilty looks. His temperament, so much like his real brother.

His real brother, who was dead. It left an emptiness inside of him.

"I'm sorry..." The other boy, _his _brother, was trying to comfort him. And he didn't even know what was wrong.

"He's dead," Alfons managed to whisper. "Ed's really dead."

It was almost funny. All their lives, they had been so close. And yet, Alfons hadn't even noticed when his brother was replaced by a stranger.

"Your brother? His voice was so gentle. So reassuring.

And it suddenly snapped into place. All the parallels, the similarities. The same face. His _voice_.

"You're me, aren't you?" Alfons said hoarsely, wonderingly. The tears had stopped. "It doesn't make sense, but it's true, isn't it?"

"... I think so." His words were reluctant, dragged out.

"And our brothers too?" Al hesitated.

"Probably."

"How?" Alfons wanted it to make sense. So desperately wanted it to make sense. Yet... The other boy refused to look at him, the give him the answer he needed.

"You don't –" Alfons began, but suddenly footsteps thudded down the observatory stairs. The other studnets had come back, panicked looks ont heir faces.

"There's – There's a body!" A Hufflepuff gasped out. "At the bottom of the tower!"

"The two Alphonse's shared startled glances.

"What happened?" At the same time, Al asked, "What's going on?" Alfons looked at him, but before he could say anything, the Hufflepuff raced past them.

"Come on! We have to go!"

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Alfons stood thunderstruck.

Dumbledore was dead. First Ed (No, that wasn't his brother, had never been his brother), and now...

Him. Dumbledore had always seemed so invincible, so firm even when saying You-Know-Who's name. Now, he looked so frail, so _old_, only a broken body lying in the grass.

"Who was he?" the other Al asked softly. Alfons replied in a voice just as quiet.

"A great wizard, and a great man." The boy shot him a confused glance but remained silent. They had to respect the dead.

Yet, choked wails of grief came from others. Tears shed under the dark sky, lit only by the mark of a skull. The Dark Mark. The _Death Eaters _had caused all of this death today.

And now that Dumbledore was gone, they could cause so much more.

"Al?" Alfons finally said, when the wailing had gone on for minutes. When the dark thoughts had settled deeply in both of their minds. "Is that what he called you?"

"Calls." His voice still stood firm, even as the world fell apart. "That's what Brother calls me."

Alfons couldn't find the heart to agree with him.


	14. Coming Closer

A/N: I reached the document limit on this site again... And now I don't know what I can delete. I guess I just have to check through what I already wrote of some things and hope that I don't need to revise anything afterwards. I don't know, I just don't like not having the option to do an easy fix. But I can procrastinate and do all that later... After I type up this chapter.

The Ravenclaw characters aren't that important, since it was Al, I thought I'd bring them in, and besides, I need to figure them out anyway for New Lead. This worked out pretty well I think. Kevin, though, is really the only one who makes it past this chapter (I mean, they don't die, but they're really not in it... Maybe a mention or something though?)

I'm so tired and I don't even know why T.T

Bleh. Just bleh. Don't enjoy this. Just... Bleh. (No, I'm lying, just enjoy it anyway. Sometimes you just gotta ignore the author...)

I'm done here.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Coming Closer<em>**

* * *

><p>His foot struck water. A large splash, a too-loud sound.<p>

He kept on going. The rain wasn't stopping; he couldn't either. Not when he was so close.

He kept on _running, running, running_...

From the unknown. From the darkness. He didn't know which. Everything was too jumbled, too chaotic to be sure.

"Alphonse!" It was Mom's voice. _Mom_. Her name sprung thousands of memories, thousands of fragmented images of her smile. Al ran towards that light. One familiar voice in a world of unknown.

A world of blood.

Suddenly, it was all around him. Pooling above him. Chocking him, strangling him, _stopping him from reaching out for Mom_... Until...

Until there was no feeling left. He couldn't – he couldn't –

The Gate stood in front of him. Black arms reaching. He whimpered, tried to get away. He couldn't, couldn't.

"BROTHER!" A raw, primal scream ripped from his throat. He couldn't go in there again, lose everything –

And then he realized that he could _feel_ his throat, the raw ache from his desperate cry moments before. He was alive. He still had a his body.

His panicked breathing gradually slowed. It was just a nightmare. Just a nightmare. He was in the dorms, where Alfons had taken him. Not outside in the...

He shivered and curled into himself. Why had this nightmare been so bad? Was it because of the memories?

"_Lumos_." A voice in the darkness. He recognized it. Alfons.

A light flashed on, burning brilliant, and Al's eyes flew open. There, he could make out Alfons' figure clambering out from his bed, a glowing stick in his hand, and other figures were soon following suit.

"Al? Are you all right?" Last night, they had come to some kind of agreement, a mutual understanding. They both had the same brother.

"Blimey, that was _loud_," someone else muttered. After a moment, Al hesitantly spoke.

"Just a nightmare."

"What kind of nightmare makes you scream like _that_?" another boy asked. Al grew uncomfortable._  
><em>

"Just a nightmare," he repeated, and it seemed to settle them. But they didn't go back to sleep; tensions were too high.

"What do you think will happen to us?" A brown-haired boy say, despondently staring at the floor. "Now that Dumbledore's gone?" There was a long silence. No one knew. Al had never known to begin with.

"Who was Dumbledore?" he said at last, when the silence had dragged on for far too long. The one who had originally spoken shot him a glare.

"And who are you, mate? A Death Eater spy?"

"Stephen –" Alfons began, but Al cut him off, giving him a small smile.

"It's fine. I don't even know what a Death Eater is." This drew bewildered looks from the others. "My name is Alphonse Elric, and I came here looked for my older brother." He left out the part about the parallel worlds, and they seems to be satisfied with the answer.

"Yeah?" The speaker had dark, curly hair and a darker, serious look about him. "I'm Michael."

"Stephen," offered the brown-haired boy after a moment.

"Kevin." He had a slightly livelier look than the other two, but still, the bags under his eyes dominated over the rest of his features.

"I'm Terry." This boy even offered Al a small smile, barely a twitch of the lips.

"Anthony Goldstein." Anthony gave Al a serious nod, meanwhile taking in every detail of Al's face. Al returned the look.

"And of course, you know me," Alfons said. "Alfons." Al didn't know how he looked so steady after what happened yesterday. When he must've discovered that his brother was dead.

Still, Al gave a polite smile to the room, silently thanking the boys who so easily accepted him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." A pause. "So what are the Death Eaters?"

The boys wasted no time spilling the tragic tale of Hogwarts.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

_- Outside the Grounds -_

It started here, with this man. A boy who had once been a student, yet had turned out so, very wrong. Now, he had returned to his school, and he would burn down the world in his wake.

"Is it ready?" The man asked. There was a muffled response, and then a large, eerie grin crept up his only vaguely humanoid face.

"Then let's begin."

Shouts of glee filled the midnight air.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

_- Ravenclaw Dorms -_

"– And then all the dementors and Death Eaters started causing trouble in the Muggle world too –" Suddenly, Kevin stopped talking and his face screwed up in concentration. "Am I hearing something? Is someone... screaming?" There was sudden horror on everybody's face as they imagined the worst, and they quietened. Soon, they too were able to pick up on the sound.

"No..." Al said slowly. "I think it's shouting. And... It's coming closer." The horror turned to apprehension and fright, and they pulled out their sticks (no, _wands_, Al reminded himself) from their pockets.

"Do you think it's another attack?" Stephen whispered. The Ravenclaw boys shared nervous glances, but Al was more confident. He and Brother had been in these kinds of situations before.

"Probably," he said. "But we can't waste any time here. Can any of you fight?" All of them, excepting Alfons and Anthony, visibly paled. "You might have to."

"What are you thinking? You want us to go out _there_?"

"Stephen." It was Anthony, his voice sharp and clear. "Would you rather stay here and wait for them? Listen, they're already almost at the castle." They could hear the shouts getting louder, and some already-pale faces turned whiter.

"But we don't know how to fight!" Terry protested. Stephen and Kevin too fervently nodded their heads.

"We weren't in DA like the rest of you, and Snape's barely taught us a thing this year!" Stephen added.

"Snape?" Alfons' voice was oddly cool. "He's a Death Eater. I saw him running with them, at the twoer."

"Snape!" Kevin burst incredulously. "_Snape's _a Death Eater? But Dumbledore –" He cut off, and the room fell silent. Now they could hear the noises as they became even clearer, crisp and loud even through the tower wall.

Al stood up abruptly, and six worried gazes turned to him.

"We need to go. They'll be here any moment now." Alfons too got up then.

"He's right. We have to warn anybody who doesn't know." That won startled looks from all of them, and they all hurriedly got up from the beds.

"I have to tell Ginny," Michael muttered, and somehow Terry managed a nervous snicker.

"Didn't she break up with you? _Two _years ago?" His voice came out too high-pitched and squeaker and Micheal was too preoccupied to take real offense, but it barely, just barely, lightened the atmosphere. And they needed that.

"Shut up," Michael muttered halfheartedly. He went to knock on another year's dorm door, and after a few moments of banging, it opened.

"Wha's happening?" A sleepy first-year mumbled. Michael pushed him aside and shouted into the room, "Death Eaters coming! Hurry up and get up!" Panicked shuffling, and soon a troop of first year boys came out. A few precious minutes later, they had all of the Ravenclaw boys out in the common room.

"Death Eaters? Again?" someone said. It sent a nervous panic through the room, and nobody seemed to be listening anymore. Al thought quickly. If it continued like this, then the "Death Eaters" would arrive and they wouldn't be prepared. No one would even be awake to resist...

He pulled a chair over and stood on it, like he'd seen Brother do so many times. It was eerily familiar to tower above others like this, to suddenly be the center of attention. Maybe that was why Ed had always drawn so much attention to himself... This had always made Al uncomfortable.

But now, the thought only reaffirmed the fierce conviction he already held ready in hand. He would find his brother. And right now, he would help these people.

It was only to be expected of the sweet, younger brother of "the Hero of the People" after all.

"There isn't enough time to sit around and talk," he began. "The Death Eaters might come back at any moment –"

But they had already wasted too much time. Somewhere below them, near the entrance to Hogwarts, there was an ear-piercing scream. Al gulped but continued speaking.

"We _need _to warn anybody we can before it's too late." Alfons had been right;t hat seemed to jolt most of them out of the mindless panic that had held them in it's tight, fear-ridden grip. Some pulled out their wands, savage looks on their faces. Al smiled inwardly. They'd do anything to protect those who mattered to them.

"We need to stick together and be careful," he cautioned. Now they were already riled up. "The most important thing is that everybody stays alive." Some brave faces were put up at this, many others only paled, but nearly every face held that determined gleam. They had a task, and they were going to do it.

Al gave them what he hoped was a reassuring smile and stepped off of the chair. When nobody looked eager to make the first move, he made his way to the door and opened it a crack.

"All clear," he said, and soon, an army of Ravenclaw boys were hopping down the tower steps. Some though, had stayed behind to get the girls out.

At the bottom, they split into three groups: one to warn each house. Different years were dispersed amongst the groups, and Al, Alfons, and Kevin were the only boys from the sixth year dorms to go warn "Hufflepuff."

"Do you really not have a wand?" Kevin asked. His own was held tightly in his hand. "I mean, how else are you going to fight?" Al flashed him a small, tense smile.

"I've got alchemy, and Brother's never won a fight against me yet." He frowned. No, that wasn't right...

"Alchemy?" This time, it was Alfons who had spoken.

"You don't know?" Al's eyebrows furrowed. "I thought that magic operated on the basis of alchemy, but I could be wrong... Do you know anything about Equivalent Exchange?"

"Equivalent Exchange?" Alfons shook his head. "Like equal trade?"

"Exactly. It's the founding principle of alchemy. In order to gain something, you need to sacrifice something." To sacrifice... Like Wrath had been. He forced the thought away, to instead concentrate on the present moment. "And it doesn't just apply to alchemy. It's a way of life." Alfons frowned.

"But that means –"

"Does anyone know the Gryffindor password?" A prefect at the front suddenly called. The group abruptly stopped walking and Kevin had to catch himself from stumbling into the person in front of him.

They had arrived.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

_- Amestris -_

"Hey, Winry." I grinned victoriously. "I think I finally found a way to get back to Al." She only gave me a sad smile.

"I'm glad, Ed..."


	15. Comprehension

A/N: Sorry, it's been about a week since the last chapter. I just couldn't write this for some reason (and then after that, type it). So instead of just waiting any longer, I split the last real chapter I had planned into two. This is now the third to last chapter, and the last is the epilogue. I have no idea how long it'll be though, but probably not as long as some authors make people wait. Thanks for reading, reviewing, following, favoriting, everything! (And I really hope you're all still alive...) (Procrastinating homework by stopping procrastinating writing) (Random things that I want to say in parenthesis for some reason because I think you all are actually interested in my life and not just this fanfiction) (Hello.) (I'll stop now.) (Enjoy maybe XD) (Ughh so tired 9:30 is past my bedtime... I need to do homework still O.O) (Right. And I still need to type up the rest of this chapter so I'm just doing these parenthesis bubble things.) (Welcome to this chapter. Welcome to Comprehension. Welcome... To Nightvale (I actually don't listen to that...)) (Aww I was hoping it would snow so I wouldn't have to go to school... but instead it's raining ): ) (Parenthesis right next to smiley faces are so annoying. It either looks like a smiley face with a beard, or both a happy or sad face. The second one is the one right there.) (Have an awesome life!) (I'm just typing up random things here. No one's probably reading these anymore lol. Wall of text.) (Have a cookie? I have cookies. I got them today and ate almost nearly half the box. Cookies are good.) (Is it sad when I can't read my own handwriting? There's this one word in here that I couldn't read... So I just replaced it with "one". Hope it works haha) (I'm thinkinging of ducks. I don't even know anymore.) (I hope this is amusing to you.) (Maybe.) (Wow, this is way overdramatic. Well, I finished typing it up now. Wowwaa, how did two hours pass? I gotta go to sleep, gotta go to sleep ugh homework plan isn't working.) (Have an awesome life people!)

* * *

><p><strong><em>Comprehension<em>**

* * *

><p>I was finally ready. All the preparations were set; I had found out how Dante had done the transmutation and created some kind of hybrid circle with all the different types I had seen. Now all what was left was to activate the transmutation circle.<p>

But I hesitated. I hadn't found a way back yet. Alchemy didn't work on the other side, after all.

"Sorry, Winry." There was something akin to pain that flashed through her eyes. Yet she stared at me openly, never hiding behind a mask. It was one of the best things about her. "I might not come back this time."

Again, that sad smile.

"I understand, Ed. Just do your best, all right?" I gave her the cheeky grin I was famous for. Unlike her, I didn't leave my emotions out in the open.

"Of course. I'll be back with Al. You'll see!" I knew she didn't believe me. I didn't even believe myself. And yet, she still smiled and tried to make her voice light.

"See you soon, Ed." But she couldn't hide the pain.

"Bye, Winry."

I hesitated for a moment longer, and then clapped my hands together and activated the transmutation circle. Immediately, the Gate, in all it's terrible majest, appeared in front of me. And slowly, so slowly, it opened.

It was different this time, now that I wasn't caught so off guard. I was aware of what was going on – after all, I had been the one to activate the circle. The first step to alchemy was always comprehension.

Next, deconstruction.

The Gate's black hands eagerly reached out for me. They pulled me to them, eagerly swarming over human flesh.

And then, reconstruction.

They launched me through, carrying me past the milky yellow to the other side of the Gate. I pushed through and...

And I landed into chaos. Chaos into a too-familiar hall of Hogwarts. Bolts of light ricocheting everywhere, voices calling out "spells". Had I come back to the same time that I had died before?

But no. There, there was Alphonse and _Al_, Al in a human body, his flesh limbs desperately dodging each projectile aimed at him. Why was he here? Why was he fighting?

"Al!" I shouted and ran forward. I didn't create my automail blade – alchemy didn't work here – but I could still protect my little brother. My little brother, who was now turning to me with widened hazel eyes.

"Brother?"

And there was nothing, _nothing_, that could have compared to the euphoria from just hearing his voice. Hearing my title spoken so wonderingly by that voice, by those lips, all without the metallic echo that had accompanied it for so many years.

I grinned at him. A wide, earnest grin. Because we had really done it. Al had his body back, and we were together again.

"In the flesh," I said, and a smile split his face to match mine. I could see his lips mouth my name again, and I brought him into a tight hug, ignoring the battle around us. I could _feel _him. I could smell him, not the smell of oil and metal that had long accompanied his shell. Now it was human, soft, and so _Al_.

We were together again.

But even hidden in our own sheltered bubble, there was a war going around us, and we soon found ourselves fighting in it: back to back, our moves coordinated between the two of us. We had always worked well together while fighting; it came natural for us to do it like this now.

But this time, when our enemy was so different than we were used to – no hands, no alchemy, only simple projectiles of light fired at us – we had to do some improvising.

"Al, jump!" I called when one was coming toward our feet. I growled and ran over to the cloaked figure who had sent it. It was _damn _annoying to fight against long-distance weapons. Guns in our world had been bad enough, but without the advantage of alchemy, it became a whole different ball game. One balanced against us.

"_Protego!_" the Death Eater cried panickedly, flicking his wand up, but my automail punch went through cleanly despite his efforts and the guy collapsed to the ground. I snapped his stick for good measure.

"Duck!" I immediately hit the floor, and a green bolt flew overhead. It took a moment for me to realize it had been a deeper voice than Al's familiar one.

"Alphonse?" I knew it would be. After the few weeks I had spent with him, I'd know his voice anywhere. The inflections that were just different than Al's. The ones that were exactly the same.

He crouched down next to me, even as I began to pick myself up, even as a war went on around us.

"Sorry, Edward." His voice was tight, constricted. He said my name as if it were a stranger's. "I should have known." For a moment, words escaped me, and I only stared at him.

"No," I said at last. "No, you couldn't have. Why..." I gulped. "Don't you hate me?"

"I couldn't hate you." It was so similar to the words Al had spoken only a year ago. "I just couldn't. But..." A pause. "You're not my brother."

"I'm sorry." It was the only thing I could say. Because I was so, so sorry. I was a monster. I killed _his _real brother and stole his name. Fooled you for so long.

But he didn't condemn me. Didn't hate me for what I did. Because even though this wasn't _Al_, they were just too damn similar.

Instead, he held out his hand to help me up. I quietly accepted it, and suddenly the war returned to our small bubble once more.

"_Protego!_" Alphonse snapped, and the spell aimed at us rebounded away. I stared at him.

"You can do that? How?" He mutely pulled out another stick from his pocket and tossed it to me. I caught it awkwardly.

"What –" I began to ask but he cut me off.

"It was Ed's wand." It felt so odd, to see my name spoken by Al's face, yet have it not refer to me. "You might be able to use it."

"Protego," I said cautiously, but nothing happened.

"You have to flick your wrist – like this." He demonstrated. I slowly repeated after him, and he nodded. "Try it."

"_Protego_," I whispered and flicked my wrist like he had shown me. Immediately, I felt the drain, the connection to the Gate, the familiar pull of alchemy.

"It's alchemy," I whispered. But no. That couldn't be right. Alchemy didn't work here.

"Brother!" My gaze snapped up to Al. And there he had been, waiting patiently even during a battle. Alphonse gave him a friendly smile. How had they become so close so soon?

Of course. It was Al. How could I think any differently?

"You ready?" I gave both of them that grin. _Both _of them. How was I going to keep this straight in my head?

"Ready," they said, almost in unison, and we soon became a trio fighting among the chaos. Alphonse was our magical support, and Al and I were the primary fighters, working together. We were able to stop six Death Eaters, excluding the one I had taken down earlier, and snap their wands.

Unfortunately, it was not enough. The tide of the battle turned against us, and then finally rolled into a halt as all the younger students were first knocked out or hiding in some corner, and soon the older too met the same fate. We hand't stopped fighting, along with a few other students, but eventually, we were forced to when we had wands pressed against our throats. I didn't understand what they could do with them, but I understood the implication: go quietly or die.

"Bastards," I muttered and squirmed slightly, but my gaze kept on flitting back to Al and Alphonse. If I tried to escape now, what would happen?

"Welcome, everybody." My attention went to the owner of the slithery, silky voice. I squinted at him. Was I seeing this or was he... part chimera? With a pang, I remembered Marta. Greed and his followers. I had killed him, and still she had helped us.

I pushed it away. Now wasn't the time to dwell on the past. The snake-man spoke again.

"As you all know," he began, almost indulgently, "I am Lord Voldemort. And this –" He walked over to a dark-haired boy. I recognized him a moment later. "– _This _is Harry Potter. The boy who lived." He laughed, a cruel cold, mocking laugh and slowly lifted his wand until it pointed at harry. Suddenly, his face sobered, his amusement replaced by a wondering look.

"_Avada Kedavra._" A green bolt of light shot out from his wand, and Harry slumped over. Immediately, there were shouts of anger and grief, Alphonse adding his voice to them. "Voldemort" simply gave another cruel laugh.

"And that was all it took. One simple curse to kill Harry Potter," he mocked. "The boy who lived no longer."

...

What had happened? Everything seemed so surreal. Magic. Wands. And now this guy claimed that he had killed somebody by saying two words?

It was impossible. All my instincts screamed against it, all my alchemical knowledge denying the possibility. And yet...

Who was I to judge?  
>The thought came unbidden. It reminded me of Dante, how she had denied Equivalent Exchange. That the baby could die so easily, powerless to stop its own death. If the concept I had believed in all my life was false, who was I to claim that this was impossible, when I could even see with my own eyes Harry Potter slumped against the ground?<p>

He was dead. And this chimera... Voldemort, had killed him.

I felt an inexplicable anger build inside of me. He was just a kid, and he died this early. Voldemort _killed _him.

"You bastard," I muttered vehemently. "You bastard!" It was only one shout among many, but somehow it managed to turn his attention to us.

"Ah, Edward... Elric." My blood ran cold. How did he know? How much did he know? "And your brother." His eyes flitted to Al. "Alphonse Elric."

I paled. The words themselves weren't threatening, but the implications and the tone sent ice-cold fear to my heart. Here was a murder, able to kill with only a flick of a stick and two words, and he knew _my little brother's name and God damn it if you harm him I _will_ kill you._

I hadn't realized I had spoken out loud until he laughed again. Treating me as if I were a mere pest to be taken care of.

"Bellatrix." The wand against my throat pressed tighter.

"Yes, my Lord?" A woman's voice spoke from behind me.

"Didn't you say you had killed this one?" Cold. Unforgiving. My captor shrunk back.

"Yes my Lord. But then _that _one –" I felt her body jerk slightly. "– Suddenly appeared. The Gate was there." The man''s eyes flicked to Al, and his lip curled.

"Ah, yes, the Gate. I wonder... What would a little boy like you know about the Gate?" I froze. He wasn't talking to me anymore. He was asking Al. My little brother.

"Don't you dare touch him!" I growled. "He had nothing to do with... Whatever it is that you're trying to do!" But he only ignored me. He _ignored _me, and then strode over to Al, leaning in his creepy face towards my little brother's.

"Don't touch him!" I shouted again, but no one seemed to hear me. When I struggled, "Bellatrix" gripped me tighter.

"If you don't stop moving," she hissed in my hear, "I'll make sure to personally torture your _precious _brother until he has no sanity left." I stopped, helplessly watching the scene unfold as Voldemort loomed over my little brother. Al. He looked so fragile like this, no longer the solid suit of armor he had been. His fear was clearly written in his face now, his body delicate and breakable.

"And so you must be Alphonse Elric. The boy who came out of the Gate. Who returned from death. Or..." he paused. "Came from another world." I paled, and saw Al do the same. How did he know?

Then I saw two Death Eaters bringing the Bastard to the center of the room. There was a circle inscribed there.

Of course. It had been _him_ all along.


	16. Deconstruction

A/N: I got a new keyboard. This one actually matches up with the letters I use, since I had a Finnish keyboard before and used the english setup. But more importantly... This story is done! DONE! Yes! Okay, well technically I still have to type up the epilogue and this chapter... But I already wrote it all out! Woot! (Sorry, I know the ending for this chapter might not seem all too summative or something, but I think it works with the epilogue. This story won't explain everything that I know about as the writer, but it still works)

And, I got an idea for New Lead. Well, how to do chapter three, which is basically completely dedicated to the discovery of Hogwarts. Not the thing that it was before. Discovery. That will be much more fun. Once I get to that, I'll also put up the revised Ch2 on deviantART, and then when I catch up (probably by number of chapters, since they're all different) to the terrible version it'll all be on this site. Well, that's enough about another story. Enjoy this one! :)

(I'm done, done, done, wow that's just so weird... Especially because I wrote the epilogue first and then rewrote this chapter hehe)

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><p><strong><em>Deconstruction<em>**

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><p>I should've known. Yet for some odd reason, I had trusted him. And now he does <em>this<em>, this betrayal. Oh, he was trying his best to look regretful, but I knew now. How many times has it been now? That the Bastard disappointed me, crushing hopes that should've already been long gone.

Now, it was worse. Now, it was Al who was in danger. Al who was being taken to the Transmutation Circle on the floor _right now_.

I didn't care about the wand pressed against my throat anymore. I didn't care about the danger. Because that was Al, damn it, and he was going to be sacrificed to open the Gate and – Damn it! And it was all the Bastard's fault.

I kicked back, hard, and the Death Eater behind me fell back with an _umph_. I didn't look back to see if she really was knocked out; I was too busy running, running to Al.

"Al!" My fist went flying to one of the Death Eaters' faces. Then Al was able to get the other one holding him, deftly twisted his arm out of the man's grasp to his side, then jerking it forward into the man's gut. There. Two Death Eaters down. I felt a vicious sense of satisfaction, and let a small grin slip out. Al returned it. This is how it should be. Me and him, together, fighting against –

"Stop." A dangerously soft voice ended our chaos before it could begin. Voldemort. The one who had killed Harry. I snarled at took a step forward, but suddenly there was a large hand grasping my shoulder, holding me back.

"Edward," Hohenheim said. "You can't kill him." I didn't turn to look at him, my gaze trained on the snake chimera.

"Why the hell not?" I asked in a barely contained growl. I could see him _smirking_, like he knew something I didn't. Indulgently letting us have this conversation, even as the rest of the room watched in eerie suspense. It irritated me, his pompous attitude and arrogant airs.

"He's immortal," Hohenheim's voice came from behind. Now I whirled around, jerking off the Bastard's hand on my shoulder. I grabbed him by his shirt with a tight fist, lifting him into the air.

"What the hell do you mean by immortal?" I hissed. And yet, once again I was struck by his eyes. There was no malice, only that damnable guilt and odd gentleness. It made me even more angry, that even after all _this_, he still had the nerve to look so _guilty_. I pulled my arm back; I couldn't, wouldn't let him –

"Brother!"

"Stop." The command was spoken by Voldemort, even more chilling than the last time. "I need him intact."

And I did stop, my arm falling again to my side, Hohenheim once again safely on the ground. Slowly, ever so slowly, I turned to Voldemort. He smiled at me like a pet to be praised.

What he didn't know was the icy chill in my veins, the freezing cold _anger _that came from his casual words.

"Need him?" My voice was dark, deep, dangerous. "What for?" He didn't seem to notice though, instead giving another of his laughs. He also didn't notice me slowly approaching him –

Until it was too late. Voldemort's snake eyes widened and he lifted his wand up, but not fast enough. I was already there, my arm reaching forward, grabbing his wand and snapping it cleanly into two.

It was so easy. Why had I been so scared? His expression was almost comical, widened eyes staring in shock at me, and then the wand. Like he couldn't believe I had just broken his stick.

"You – You –" he sputtered, then glanced around wildly. "Bellatrix! Give me your wand." There was no reply. Bellatrix had been the one who had held me, the one I kicked. I must've knocked her out after all.**  
><strong>

But his command had been enough to break the stillness that had encompassed the room earlier. Students, suddenly filled with new hope, fought back against the Death Eaters, who were now trying to come to Voldemort's aid. The resulting chaos was enough to leave Al and I relatively isolated. Now, we had to dodge flying bolts of light again as the fighting restarted. I tried to find Alphonse, but couldn't spot his face amidst the chaos. Instead, I whipped out the wand I carried in my pocket, uncomfortably casting the occasional _protego _spell.

"Al, we can't keep up like this." The Death Eater numbers were declining, but so were the students. People were getting hurt.

However, instead of concentrating on the battle, Al was looking for something. Searching for someone. Was it Alphonse?

"Ed, where's Dad?" I opened my mouth to make a scathing retort, but then paused. I didn't see him, and that could be dangerous. What was he doing? Now, I too was searching, glancing around at every chance I got. Finally, I found him.

"There! By the Transmutation Circle!" I frowned. What was he doing there? He was acting like a battle wasn't going on at all, studiously making alternations to the circle...

... Making alterations to the circle? Why? was he still planning on _using _it? But to do that he'd have to –

Al must've realized it right before me, because he dashed towards Hohenheim. I followed after him.

"Dad! What are you doing?" he asked frantically when we were close enough. From here, I could see something else nearby hHohenheim. A figure. What was...

Then I realized. It was Harry Potter's corpse. He was going to try to sacrifice Harry to get us back. But wasn't he already dead? Or was I wrong and Voldemort hadn't –

"I need to get you two boys back home." For a moment, I stared at him in stunned silence.

"Home?" Al echoes my thoughts. "We can't leave now! There's a –"

"A war going on," Hohenheim finished calmly. "A war neither of you should've been a part of." He abruptly stood up, quickly observing his work and giving a small nod of satisfaction. "This should get you two back home."

"Wait." I grabbed his arm, stepping up next to him. "You haven't explained anything! What was going on? Why did the Death Eaters attack? You should know, right, since you were such great pals with them?" He winced at my scathing remark.

"Edward, I'm –"

"Don't you dare say it." But he didn't listen to me.

"I'm sorry." I tried to shut my ears from it, my mind, my soul. Damned Bastard didn't deserve to get the chance to say it, to tell me he was _sorry_. "To both of you. I never should have left. And –" He took a deep, hitched breath. "I never should have tried something so foolish in this world."

After a pause, Al asked softly, "What did you do?" Hohenheim smiled sadly.

"I saw Ed. And when Dumbledore turned me away, I went to the other group of magic users who could help me: the Death Eaters." I couldn't hold in my words anymore, pretend that I hadn't heard him.

"What did you do?" It burst out of me, angry, demanding. He sighed.

"I showed them how to make a transmutation circle to open the Gate. One that required my blood as sacrifice." His smile turned bitter. "I was going to try to sacrifice myself to get you back, Ed. But then they found out about Al."

"Al?" I echoed numbly, glancing at my little brother. He looked just as bewildered as me. "What about Al?"

"We have similar DNA." A moment, then...

Then it clicked.

"No," I breathed. "No, damn it!" I had been wrong. The Transmutation Circle – now that I looked at it, truly _looked _at it – wasn't meant to transport the alchemist to me or Al, it was meant to _use _us. It was the reverse transmutation; we were the reactants, not the products.

"So that's why they attacked? They wanted to sacrifice _Al_?" I swore vehemently and glared at Hohenheim. "And you were going to _let _them?"

"Brother..." Al had always been the calmer of us two, always settling me down when I got too heated. However, this time, I couldn't, _couldn't _just calm down. Al had to step up from behind me and hold me back from another attempt at attacking Hohenheim –_  
><em>

But now there was a strangely conflicted expression on the Bastard's face. He glanced from Al to me, and then went down into a crouch, hands reaching for the rim of the circle. I realized what he was about to do right before –

"No! Lem'me go, Al! He's going to – !" Going to activate it. Going to send us back using Harry Potter's body –

Then there was a flash of light, and we were gone.


	17. Reconstruction

A/N: And here it is, the epilogue. Or the last chapter. Whatever you want to call it. I call it the epilogue because it changes to third person and there's a change in pace. Flash of light, dramaticness, and then this. Sorry, again doesn't explain everything, but it wasn't meant to. Anything else I want to say will be in an author's note I'm putting up as a separate chapter, since putting it up here doesn't make sense, and I always feel like putting an author's note at the bottom messes up the ending. The last words should be the last ones on there, meant to linger a bit longer. It's the difference between a section break and a chapter break. Longer pause, whatnot. This time it's for the whole ending for the story, so it's a bit more important. Well, thanks to anyone who followed, favorited, or reviewed. It really means a lot that you stuck with this story till it's over :)

(Wow... A story actually done. Done, done, done. Hehe. I know I did that last chapter too, but oh well. It's just weird to think about.)

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><p><em><strong>Reconstruction<strong>_

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><p><em>- Hogwarts -<em>

Harry Potter was dead. The Chosen One. The Elric brothers were too, gone. Gone in a sudden flash of light, Harry's body with them.

It was all over, Alfons knew. They had won this battle but lost the war. Now that Harry and Dumbledore were dead, who would stand against Voldemort?

Even now, even after all what had happened, Alfons still flinched at the mere thought of his name. Voldemort. If he was like this, what hope was there for anybody?

"Are you okay?" He looked up, startled, to find Ginny standing above him. "I mean... Do you know what happened... with your brother?" For a moment, Alfons only stared at her, at her tear-ridden face and puffy eyes. Then he realized. She had been dating Harry, hadn't she? She loved him, but Harry was now dead and she was asking after Alfons.

"I'm fine," he said weakly. It was a lie, but the kind she needed. "How are you?"

"Not good," she admitted after a hesitant pause. Then more quietly, "It's all fallen apart." For a long while, Alfons didn't answer. But then...

"We could do it." Ginny was momentarily taken aback.

"What?"

"We could do it," he said, this time his voice stronger. "We could fight against – against Voldemort. It might not be worth much, but..."

"It's a chance," she finished, finally understanding. Her eyes sparkled with something. Happiness? Alfons doubted it. "We have to try."

Then he knew. It was determination. They might loose the war, but at least they had this.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

_- Amestris -_

It was a sunny day out. A fresh breeze of wind fighting against the otherwise-overwhelming heat. A nice day by most standards.

Yet, for the two brothers sitting on the hillside of Risembool, the nice weather meant nothing. It was finally over, they had their bodies back, they had returned home... But at what cost? An innocent boy's life? The war of another world? There had been so many lives sacrificed for their own selfish aims.

"_Protego_." It was Ed, waving his other self's wand. He knew he was doing it right, he _knew_. But there was none of the telling drain of energy, the tingle of alchemy that he had felt on the other side of the Gate. Just like alchemy had not worked there, magic did not work here.

Still he tried again. He had to. Alfons had given this to him. He had to try –

"Brother." A hand grabbed his arm, stopping Ed from his futile attempts at waving the wand. He turned large, desperate eyes to Al. It was all his fault. He had caused all of this, and now here he was, left helpless to mend the damages he had done.

"Al..." Sad, begging. Hoping that there was a way to fix all of this.

"Brother." Al's voice was firm. "You're the one who said we need to keep on moving forward. Look! We're together again! I have my memories _and _my body back!" But Ed only grew more horrified, eyes widening.

"You... You lost your memories?"

"Brother..." Too late, Al realized his mistake.

"Of course. It wouldn't have been Equivalent Exchange. I'm still alive after all..."

"Brother! Don't be stupid. You're not –" He was stopped by Ed's soft, bitter chuckle.

"Alfons also said the same thing. Even after I killed his brother." There was such a longing expression on Ed's face, so regretful. Wishing that there was _something_, anything he could do. But no. It was all too far away, all in another world he didn't belong in.

"I guess you're right, Al," Ed said. He stood up abruptly, leaning unbalanced against his automail leg. "All we can do is just keep on moving forward." He turned, looked past the wavy hills of Risembool down to the Rockbell's house.

"Let's go home." And there was something about that, about what he had just said.

Home, that was it. He had called it home.


	18. Author's Note

A/N: An author's note for the author's note for formatting reasons. By the way, I absolutely own every word that I type there. Maybe still not FMA or HP or the characters notes, but the author's note, is well, the _author's_ note. Note the possessive there. And note the note and the ... Yeah. Just read the author's note. If you want to. Maybe.

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note<strong>_

* * *

><p>Hello. As you can see, this entire chapter is titled "Author's Note" and so, this is the author of this fanfiction talking. If you don't want to read me just randomly talking about this story, please kindly skip this entire thing and go on to... whatever you're going on to. Hopefully, my writing will be entertaining enough and ranty enough to keep you entertained. Obviously, if it's entertaining, it's going to entertain you, right? Ehm, anyway...<p>

First of all, I am the only one who is allowed to say my story sucks. You can tell me where it sucks, just don't tell me that it does. And be nice about it, or I might have a shattered ego (No, I'm kidding, go ahead and say whatever you want in the reviews. I don't break that easily). I will try to fix stuff if it needs fixing, and I will also just sit down and revise this story sometime in the future. I know it has a lot of inconsistencies, and there might be a few things I want to change. So, even though this story has the "completed" label, it is still under revision. Anything online on here will always be under revision (probably) if I just look through it and decide I want to change something. That's how the world works, folks. My story, I get to do what I want with it. Except delete it. Now that would just be evil.

Honestly, I don't remember what else I wanted to talk about in here. Review, ask questions, and I'll PM and edit this thing to answer those if I can, or just go back and fix it or whatever needs to be done. Like I said, if you pay attention to the author's notes within the story, I... I just forgot what I was about to say. Okay, that just ruined the continuity of this. Anyway, on to explanations of things that I need to explain:

(Oh, I just realized... Why did I just forget again? Ugh... Oh! It was that ... Dog whining in background is not helping... Oh. Not everything in the story is explained in the story itself. It just doesn't work, and it happens in a lot of things. Namely, the original animes/manga themselves, Fullmetal Alchemist.)

Is it strange that when I looked back through the chapter titles again and saw "The End" I only just remembered that I had Ed die in this story... Terrible memory for the win! (As I so well demonstrated in the paragraph thing before this...) I guess it's like there's this whole first half to the story, and now I only remember the second half, after "Switched" and so on. Well, it makes sense I guess because that's how far I planned each segment... There never really was any unifying theory behind it all. After I wrote the first half, I came up with a brilliant idea that somehow made everything make sense, and that made me happy. Umm... This might not be the best way to write. It was pretty much luck this that story sounds together at all. Part of the reason why I need to revise. Ehm, anyway! (I wish you could indent things on here so the explanation things wouldn't just look like a messy wall of text.)

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><p><strong>Explanations<strong>

Time Flux: This one was partially explained within the story.  
><em>Quote:<em> "'But it doesn't make any sense! It had only been a few hours for me, so –' Then I realized. 'Of course! Time must pass differently for each world. Here it's faster... Or... Could it be in flux? Maybe if there's an energy imbalance –'" - After the bathroom incident, when Snape says something about it having been a whole week where Ed was missing, and for Ed it was only a few hours.  
><em>Explanation:<em> He had a pretty good idea, and then he backed it out. I kindly mentioned in a later author's note that this theory was correct, and was half-ranting about it. Erm... then there was the whole "Who's really the older brother" thing that I never did in the actual story. Oh, well, it's an interesting idea. Maybe there will be some kind of side story about it... Who knows? Anyway. Back on topic. The "energy imbalances" would be when a human transmutation occurs, or Ed dies (like he has, many times), or there's a large amount of magic being used (Battle of Hogwarts). The first time Ed goes through, he ends up in that specific time because the other Ed's body would be exactly as old as his regular body. After all, it's best when both are the same age. Aside from all that, it's kind of like gravity, which affects time too. Large events, or "objects of high density or mass", would draw in more time and make it more squished... Yeah, that was a butchery of an explanation. But you get the idea, right? Much death, much time warping. However, sometimes the transfer across worlds was completely random, especially in the beginning when I had no clue what I was writing about...

The Gloves: There is a very odd mention of gloves in this. A mystery that seems to be unsolved... right?  
><em>Quote:<em> "Usually I just took off my cloak... But I had left that somewhere back home. Now I was only wearing my black jacket.  
>I frowned. No, that couldn't be right. When I had activated the human transmutation circle, I hadn't been wearing any shirt at all. How had my jacket and gloves suddenly appeared on me? The Gate? Why?"<br>_Explanation:_ See, there's this thing, I forget what it's called, but it says to only include what's relevant. I'm one of those people who don't like that law, and like to include whatever I want, if it happens. Because sometimes, in real life, not everything is relevant, not everything is used. What I did here is turn what I saw as an inconsistency between my writing and the anime (Ed wasn't wearing gloves at the end; they would've noticed his automail), into a simple plot point. It's this: Ed has magic. And since he was in the Gate, weird things happened, but only going from the alchemy side to the magic side. Like when Al was switched, all the blood was gone. It had something to do with the mental perceptions of themselves. Ever read Sword Art Online? It's like in Volume 14 where Kirito did that whole Black Swordsman thing which you would know about if you actually read it and have no idea what I'm talking about if you don't. By the way, I recommend reading it. SAO is good as an anime, but when you see what Kirito's really thinking... It's not quite the same.

Ed Having Magic: No, it's not some weird thing like all alchemists are wizards on the other side of the Gate, because frankly, that's stupid. That would mean everybody is a wizard, since everybody has the inherent ability to do alchemy, they just don't learn it. Of course, doing that is fine if you have some sort of reason, if it's the actual practice that triggers the magic on the other side, or something to do with the brain (there was one fanfiction like that, it was pretty cool). First, let's look at this _quote_ (since I'm apparently pulling quotes out for each one of these. My lit teacher would be proud):  
>"'Protego,' I whispered and flicked my wrist like he had shown me. Immediately, I felt the drain, the connection to the Gate, the familiar pull of alchemy.<br>'It's alchemy,' I whispered. But no. That couldn't be right. Alchemy didn't work here."  
><em>And then a second quote:<em>  
>"'<em>Protego<em>.' It was Ed, waving his other self's wand. He knew he was doing it right, he knew. But there was none of the telling drain of energy, the tingle of alchemy that he had felt on the other side of the Gate. Just like alchemy had not worked there, magic did not work here."  
><em>Explanation:<em> Okay, so what I did was the simple idea that alchemy exists on one side of the Gate and magic exists on the other. Not a very original idea, I know, but this fanfiction wasn't really about the originality of the logic behind it. I'd like to think that the character's were just so awesome it makes up for that. (Right?) Anyway, the reason for Ed having magic is also simple. The other Ed (Eduard) has magic. For Al too, the other Al (Alfons) has magic. Since they're all basically identical, it all works out. The simplest things are always the best.

Ed's Death: Again, simple. Two homunculi is a little too much to open a non-permanent Gate. The Transmutation Circle Al used didn't quite do what he thought it did though, and since the blood used in exchange for the transmutation didn't match up, it had a little bit of a side effect. Ed was brought back. But that was okay, right? Better than being dead. Thanks, Al.  
><em>Quote: "<em>However, it shouldn't have been able to work. There wasn't enough of an impulsion... A reaction that would give the final push to get through the Gate. Usually, human transmutation did the trick, but...  
>Then I realized. All of the blood. And I had died.<br>So someone else must have died here for me." Also, "Once again, that dawning sense of horror when everything clicked together. Wrath had died for me. There had been no body; homunculi returned to the Gate when they died."  
><em>Second Quote:<em> "I had been wrong. The Transmutation Circle – now that I looked at it, truly looked at it – wasn't meant to transport the alchemist to me or Al, it was meant to use us. It was the reverse transmutation; we were the reactants, not the products."  
><em>Explanation: <em>That's always fun. I said that the character's theories were either meant to explain what was really happening or meant to be dead wrong, right? Well, this time, unlike time flux, it was the second scenario. By the way, the actual explanation for "Ed's Death" is at the top up there.

Harry: I can't believe I forgot about this one. It's so obvious. Harry dies, so how can he still be used for the transmutation? The reason: Harry never really died. Remember what happened at the end of the seventh book? Yeah, that whole reviving thing. Well, I wanted to kill Harry, but he wasn't cooperating. He's the hero of the series named after him; he had to have the backup life called "being a horcrux". So yeah, Hohenheim killed him. You've got a nice dad there, don't you, Ed?  
><em>Quote: <em>"Then I realized. It was Harry Potter's corpse. He was going to try to sacrifice Harry to get us back. But wasn't he already dead? Or was I wrong and Voldemort hadn't –" Harry's poor "corpse" on the circle  
><em>Second Quote: <em>"[Hohenheim] was acting like a battle wasn't going on at all, studiously making alternations to the circle...  
>... Making alterations to the circle? Why? was he still planning on <em>using <em>it? But to do that he'd have to –" Sacrifice somebody. That's nice.  
><em>Explanation: <em>When Hohenheim was working with Voldemort, he studied some DNA of Voldie. Voldie and Harry Potter were linked, it was enough for him to use Harry instead. He also probably knew Harry wasn't dead, and it was convenient to use someone who his sons thought was already dead. Very convenient, isn't it?

Any other explanations might be added into this if questions are asked or I suddenly remember something.

And so "Alternate Identity" is finished.


End file.
